The anticipated rain and wind storm has finally arrived, and with it an army of ants moved in to my kitchen. This morning I was awakened by the rain beating against the window and couldn’t seem to fall back asleep. I got up to make myself a cup of tea. Darkness is very deceptive because I was ignorant of the secret activity going on in my kitchen as I filled the tea kettle and set it on the stove. When it whistled I came back to the kitchen and turned on the light to make my tea and toast. To my dismay I found my sink and surrounding counter top to be covered with ants. I was confused becasue the sink was empty and the countertop clean! Nevertheless I began to wash them away and at this they went crazy. I can safely say that they began to swarm. I hastily consulted my mom who told me that the ants are inside merely because of the storm. Storm or not I don’t want any ants in my house! So I will be buying the necessary equipment to be the exterminator later today.

Last night I enjoyed dinner at 17B with Astari, Bethany, Jen and Missy. When I arrived they were working on this puzzle called “A Million Marbles.” Insanity in a box. I think puzzles have this way of messing with minds because we will study it for a long period of time without accurately fitting any pieces. Then right as I say, “I’m not going to do this any more,” I find and fit a piece. So I keep working on it hoping to find just one more. Then I end up staying up all night trying to finish the puzzle. They can be fun to do with people you can talk to and laugh with while the puzzle addiction process continues. We discovered last night that Missy has the “gift” of puzzlery. She will simply pick up a random piece, study the box cover and then place the piece correctly, all within a matter of seconds. It worked for me a couple of times but then we started watching Star Wars, Return of the Jedi which I haven’t seen in ages so I resigned from the puzzle to watch the movie and have a cup of tea. Not having seen it for 5 years or so I found it to be much more of a comedy than I remember. I used to think it was dramatic, and even a little scary at parts, but last night I couldn’t stop laughing at C3PO’s English-accent dramatically delivering lines like, “Yes, your worshipfulness”. There is a hilarious constant reference to searching or reading feelings and fulfilling destiny. Most amusing of all were lines like: “I have a very bad feeling about this…” ; Han-”I love you” Leia-”I know” and “Get going, you pirate” It was fun to watch together but I’m most excited how we decided to read 1 Peter together and each week write at least one paragraph in response and bring it to share with each other. I think reading the Word and spending time in prayer together will do much to encourage our friendship and challenge our individual growth. Hebrews 3:13 gives this guidline for friends, “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” This call to challenge and encourage is true friendship. It is not an aquaintence that trys to make us feel good about ourselves, or suffices to talking about the weather. Instead it is a togetherness–open, honest, gentle and caring. It works for the purpose of building each other up in Christ. I’m excited about being more purposed in this kind of encouragement, and am inspired to be this way in all relationships, sharpening each other while it is still called today, for today might be all we have together…

Tonight I accompanied Bobby to a lesson he was teaching on Heberews 12:1 to some children at an AWANA program. He brought Ty and Bradford to assist in his visual demonstration. After explaining that God is perfect and we are full of sin he read this verse, “Let us lay aside ever weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us…” Ty and Brad came forward with a roll of duct tape and a pair of scissors and every time Bobby said the word “sin” they would wrap more and more tape around him. At one point Bobby held his index finger out, pointing and said, “If we sin even just once, God won’t even allow that.” At which point Brad wrapped his index finger in duct tape. It was hilarious and a clever way to get this point across to the children. At the end Bobby told how Jesus sets us free from sin, by grace through faith, and broke out of the tape. We were later told that a young girl talked to her leader and told her that she didn’t want to be entangled by sin anymore and wanted Jesus to be her Lord and Savior!

I was encouraged today by a couple of different conversations and Bobby’s lesson tonight…it got me to thinking that if I am an instrument of the Lord (meaning that I am surrendered and obedient to Him), I can be used to encourage others. I don’t have to be ensnared by sin. I am always being reminded that sin is a choice. What I started to think about today was that I don’t even have to be entangled by sins of omission. James 4:17 talks about this, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” There is no room for fear, insecurity, hesitation, excuses, grudges or feelings. An instrument does the will of the one that controls it. With New Years there is all this hype about resolutions, all the commercials these days are about dieting, excercise and stopping smoking. Christianity is not about one time desicions. It is a lifestyle of obedience. I hope I will always be reminded through conversations, lessons and people that challenge me to live this way every day, not just for a month after New Years…

Tonight we played a rousing game of Balderdash. In this hilarious bluffing game, a word is selected form the card box and the players make up definitions trying to get the others to vote for theirs believing it is the correct one. Usually definitions are believable or just funny. Mine tend to lean toward the funny side. For example, the word “acouchy”(pronounced like ‘a-coochy) came up and I, thinking it sounded like a combination between “couch” and “squishy”, wrote “A squishy couch.” Needless to say I was in last place. Another funny word was “pixilated,” which produced results like, “The after-effect of snorting pixi sticks”; “To drown in fairy dust”; and “To be utterly confused to the bone so that your pixi sticks come out.” This actually means “eccentric and mischievious.” Ah well, my stomach muscles aching and my vocabulary enhanced…

We’ve had a wonderful weekend having my sister as well as our good friend Bradford in town. We celebrated New Year’s Eve at an all-nighter. Monica and I stayed until about 4 am around which we found it absolutely necessary to leave due to our laughter turned to uncontrollable cackling. Mostly we have been attempting to stay warm and dry by having a crakling glowing fire and a collection of old movies to watch. We worked our way through It’s a Wonderful Life, Flight of the Pheonix, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and a mystery called The Big Sleep. One afternoon Monica and I braved the rain and went shopping. I bought a new rug for my kitchen and a tweed handbag, she found some shoes and a scented candle for mom. I’m looking foreward to having tomorrow off from work since she isn’t going home until later afternoon. Who knows what kind of pixilating things we will find to do…

I was challenged today by Bobby’s talk on a rather pressing and pertinent issue: victorious Christian Living. I find that victory is not popular among most Christians. Though it seems like a good idea it also seems like a very unrealistic way to live. People are always talking about frustrations at work, troubles in the family and ongoing struggles with sin. We quickly attribute our defeats to humanity. But victory is the essence of the everyday life of a believer. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(1 Corinthians 15:57) “God be thanked that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart…and having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.”(Romans 6:17-18) We don’t have to keep struggling in our sin, or remain trapped in our troubles because Christ has set us free from this kind of life. Instead we can be about loving God, loving others and walking in obedience to the Father. One of the great areas this encompasses is temptation. The battle is between living in sin or in righteousness. The awsome reality is that this battle has been won for those who believe in Jesus as Lord. This changes how I see temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Sinning is my choice. Sin does not happen to me, I do not “fall” into it, I choose it. The freeing truth is that I don’t have to, I can choose righteousness. There is nothing that I am tempted in which is unique or different. God never allows me to be tempted beyond what I could handle. And there is always a way of escape. This means there is always a response that I could choose that is not sin. I like how Bobby called people who live like this overcomers. I want to be an overcomer. I know I have experienced what it is like to listen and think and take time to choose godly responses. To choose not to gossip or lie, to confront a friend out of love, being thankful rather than complaining. Walking obedient to the Lord is a freeing and peaceful way to live. “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) I can’t think of a better way to live, than as an overcomer.

Happy New Year!