>This could be part of my rebellion issue popping up or it could be simply a “pet peeve” or it could be righteous indignation…

There is something in Christendom that makes my neck tighten up.

The ever present, “I don’t care who this offends but I blah, blah, blah”
or the great threat, “Let’s see who really loves Jesus and re posts this” or “forwards this”
or even the “If you care about (fill in the blank) then you’ll re post/forward, etc”

I could be reading the most awesome email and then if I get to the bottom and read one of these it loses all sincerity to me.
I then delete it.

I just don’t feel that I ever need to announce that I don’t care if I offend you because of my convictions. The way that I live out those convictions should declare that in itself.

I also don’t feel I need to prove my love for my Savior by cowering before a post threat… I just don’t see how re-posting or forwarding an email is living out my faith before men. It’s pretty easy to hide behind a computer screen and just press send.

You see that post might have said a really good thing, but if I re-post it because some person demanded me to prove something to them… then I am obeying man and not God. If the post is of God and it moves the Spirit within me, I’ll re-post it because my God led me to, not because my loyalty was threatened by man.

I can forward a thousand and one emails and re-posts every thing I read and still deny my Jesus before men. I can declare on my facebook page how much I love Jesus… but it means nothing if I have not loved Him enough to obey Him or to share His love when face to face with another human being.

Personal interaction was important enough to God that He left the glory of heaven to take on humanity and this flesh in order to share His love with us face to face. God did not have a Written Word face and then have a completely different Human Interaction face. His life lived out His Word.

When we become believers we are sanctified in this Word and we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we too should be fleshing out the Word of God and others should be able to behold His glory in us.

Jesus didn’t have to stand up on a soapbox and shout that He didn’t care who He offended and He didn’t have to threaten anyone to spread His message. He just spoke and did what He did and didn’t change according to where He was at or who was listening.
He simply lived out His Word.

May we too, as His disciples, follow His example and live out His Word.

May we not just be computer christians, blogging believers, facebook faithfuls, email evangelists, or testimony tweeters.

Let us also manifest and magnify the glory of our God and declare His gospel and let us praise His name outside the gates. Let us also, when we are given the opportunity to be face to face, and look another human being in the eye, be bold and confident enough in the truth that we know to share the only Name that eternally saves.

>Last night I ran from massive multiple tornadoes on foot all night long. They were everywhere. Yes, for those that don’t know I do live right in the middle of the April fury. Our home somehow managed to get missed by less than a mile, but the damage was all around us. My husband had been home from work only 3 hours when the first tornado ripped through his work. My dad called as He watched one coming down across the street from his place of work right before they all ran across the street to seek shelter in a basement. We spent the day and night running back and forth across the street to our neighbors basement. 

It was a day that our children will never forget especially since after it happened they went with us to help those who were directly hit. They saw first hand how we can lose everything in mere seconds. I pray that this taught them to not put their treasures or hope in the things of this earth. We used this storm to help teach them this truth. We also used it to teach them that sometimes it takes God allowing these kind of things to happen to wake people up so that they remember that the only thing that lasts is Him. 

I suppose all the thunderstorms that have come through here as of late renewed this day in my mind and so I saw tornadoes and debre flying in the air all night as I ran to seek shelter. The funny thing was in my dream the storms were all around me and trees falling and being ripped up and yet my hair was not even blowing. I was completely protected.

Then would you believe that I wake up this morning to the sound of thunder once again. I go outside to see if the wind and rain is going to blow me out of my sacred spot and I step out the door and just sit on the steps to listen to what was a gently rolling thunder.

Then too close for comfort lightening strikes and this crazy loud crackling thunder explodes and I physically jump up off the steps and my heart is pounding like mad in my chest. I am thinking to myself, “God that is so not funny!” Then I am immediately reminded of the awesomeness of my God and reminded that I need not take Him lightly in anyway. He is God.

Yes, the fear of God put in me in an instance. My mind goes to the mountain in Exodus when God was spoke to the people as a whole and when His voice thundered they all came to Moses and said “you talk to Him and then just tell us what He said…” I have to admit that this morning I sympathized with them… 

After my heart stills I sit back down outside under our breezeway and contemplate whether it is safe to bring my stuff out and then another lightening strike and simultaneous crazy loud crackling thunder explodes and shoots light out of the “off” bulb above my head… yeh, I go in the house.

I now crowd in my kitchen corner (because it is conveniently located next to the coffee pot and I don’t have to stop my study time to refill my cup… just reach over). I am in Isaiah 55 today and then I am directed in my homework to research the times I have seen covenant in my studies these past few weeks. I love studying covenant, because our God is a covenant keeping God.

With my very recent morning experience this one verse spoke volumes and immediately sent me into a song of praise