Come out, Come out where ever you are

It’s so easy to recognize the pattern of whenever I ask for a chore to be fulfilled or homework to be done or the truth about a situation that happened at school, I’ll find my son locked in the bathroom. What a perfect picture of the “Fall” in all of us! What’s with the hiding? Can we be honest, be real? Our human nature has us doomed to repeat the retreat to the bushes and covering up in fig leaves. Did you know those leaves were poison to human skin? Makes a lot more sense how harmful hiding can be emotionally, spiritually and physically when you think of having an irritating rash in that location! There is actually a full lesson on underwear in the Bible. The purpose for the garment was for priests to be covered waist to knee before the “Holy of Holies” to present oneself reverently before the Lord. Strength was associated with the area covered in other Old Testament references. A belt of truth girds this area in the New Testament. According to online research, the only time the same word for undergarment in Exodus is used in Jesus’ day was when the Savior was stripped during His trial. T.D. Jakes explains the true exposure of humanity’s hero on Calvary as a victorious struggle. But humanity often finds a need to cover up the brutality. “Where did this loincloth come from? Why is it painted on most of the pictures I see of the cross? Isn’t that what hinders us now? Are we, the Body of Christ, hiding beneath a loincloth that has stifled our testimony and blocked our ability to be transparent, even with one another? There is seemingly some secret order whereby we have not been allowed to share our struggles as well as our successes. Our ministers are dying of loneliness because they feel obligated to maintain some false image of perfection in order to be serviceable in our society. We have no one to laugh with, no one to cry with, and no one who will sit down and share a sandwich with us. Beneath the loincloth of human expectation and excessive demands, many men and women are bleeding to death!” – T.D. Jakes’ Naked and not Ashamed My favorite author goes on to say religion is like a loincloth making a cover over what God meant to expose. The raw humanity and transparency in a person’s testimony always drew my attention to a sermon. Those are the speakers I want advice and mentoring from! Such honesty means genuine faith. Someone who is walking the talk or still stumbling through. I want to hear from more Davids who will tell you they lusted after that girl so much they killed her husband before they got on their knees and begged God to help them undo what they became. I want to hear from more Rahabs who bared themselves unashamed before many before realizing they were temples of a Holy Spirit worthy of keeping themselves presentable before a One, True, God. Tell me like it is because living as a Christian isn’t ever going to be easy and I wasn’t called to cover up anything or sugar coat my Bible. In a Beth Moore study on freedom, she talks about how Gideon was found threshing wheat in a wine press. Apparently wheat can't grow in a cave where he was hiding-it has to get out in the open air and let the breeze get to it. Breathe out that testimony, all its details and all your concerns. Breathe in the life giving Spirit. Think if it as Lamaze for God birthing something new from within you. Let it be delivered. Let it grow. But don't hide it in the bathroom for private reading hours only.

Mind blown

Despite popping out a baby from her womb, being a "milk truck" for six months and lack of sleep, this chic pushed through her physical fitness requirements. Fifteen years ago, she held her infant son tight while grinning ear to ear in her blue military uniform after leadership adorned it with gold bars. She earned the rank upon college graduation after a school year paused by labor and school days with intermittent breaks to cuddle a feeding hour. Her first duty was to pack up the family and move to flight school. The day in junior college year when her belly was too big for a flight suit was the missed warning sign God had other plans. Determined, she rolled with it, took the punches and got the opportunity to switch to public relations if she was willing to go to Oklahoma A "yes, sir" was her reply before she looked at the location on a map to fully understand. The family uprooted again. Within months they found themselves huddled in a second floor bathroom until the sound of a freight train passed. They stepped out on to the balcony of their aparment building where neighbors stared shockingly into the vast plains of rubble. Houses were gone but their lives were spared. Being on the ground with media, she learned how tragic it really is when you're looking for something or someone that could have blown to another location. Or perhaps something was blown into a location and people were trying to identify it. How someone pointed to a pile of wood and said "that's where shelter was," she will never understand. At least she discovered how to get the president through the war-torn looking area. Her self confident, resilient, pride-filled passion for life was welcome in a community of tornado prepared people. The stories of this week, on the 15th anniversary of becoming an officer in the military, she reflects back. Who was that girl? Oh the places we have been, fond memories we have, trials we overcame and bonds that are sealed! Wow what a mind trip! Peace be with Oklahoma and peace be within us all. God offers a safe haven in mercy's arms.Those hands will also take you on an amazing journey if you hold on and let Him lead. then one day you can look back 15 years and say "Wow, God is amazing.!"

Nothing but an earthworm

I had fun making this note on my Bible app on Mark 16:18 Among the great promises Jesus has for us upon receiving Holy Spirit is the ability to pick up serpents by hand.Finally, with soften hearts yieled to God, we receive correct vision and eye sight by the hearing the Holy Spirit. We are able to know the serpent is not a big threatening monster. He really does crawl on his belly. Grinding his wrigglely body like the Hell dwellers grind their teeth, he wries with determination to steal, kill and destroy but he has no power of his own. Though the enemy voice is loud and obnoxious, he's small and insignificant. Why he is nothing but an earthworm- doomed to this world, buried in it's dirt and nothing but a garden pest.So pick him up, see his small sliminess and tell him to get out of your garden growth in the name of Jesus. He can't hurt you; he is defeated. Scientists say all the spineless creature can do is turn up the soil but all this does is allow the nutrients to rise to the top. Let what is Christ in you rise to the top and hold that confidence high above any circumstances trying to up turn your Word-enriched soil.