Blakeyblog

What a blustery day–rainy, cold and a week-long forcast of the same. Along with the weather I am feeling gloomy as I’ve been coming down with something. Sore throat, cough, occasional body aches, and loss of appetite. After a visit to WebMD.com I was certain that I’ve come down with Rubella. A well-meaning paranioa brought on by the result of a recent blood test showing I need to get re-immunized to the disease. I complained of my illness to my mom especially since I’m not even German. But she convinced me that I have a mere cold/flu bug, to eat anyway and that viruses don’t specify nationality of their victims. Determined to beat this bug I’m drinking lots of hot tea, popping a Ricola ever few hours and have scheduled my immunization for next week.

I have been thinking quite a bit about God’s grace. How we live under it, in it, by it and through it. The good things that He gives are blessings bestowed on those so undeserving. And yet it the sun comes out every morning and He allows the rain to fall. The struggles and hardships are opportunities that He grants that I never would have even thought to ask for. I never would change the way that each day unfolds even though so many times I complain that things are not going my way like my health and the weather. He is the mastermind from beginning to end. If I live in the Lord’s will and offered all I am to Him I don’t have any worries how the days will turn out. Romans 6:13-14 offers an inspiring exhortation, “Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” My sister and I used to like an old song that said, “Your grace never ceases to amaze me, never ceases to sustain me when I fall. Your grace is a wonder I can’t fathom, it’s no wonder I am always amazed.” I hope that I will always have people in my life to help me realize how good and gracious the Lord is to me and how I don’t come anywhere close to deserving it.

“Halleluja, grace like rain falls down on me,
Halleluja, all my stains are washed away, they’re washed away…”

Sitting down to blog, I realize that all the things I want to share are lunch related. Not only because it is almost my lunch break, but also becasue the last few days I have had some interesting happenings regarding lunch. For example…

On Friday before my lunch break I was working on a tax file and listing the client’s contributions to the American Lung Association. However I typed “American Lunch Association.” I didn’t catch it, but believe me, people were more than happy to point it out.

On Saturday I accompanied Bobby and Andrew to the city to shoot a promo for a youth activity called “Outreach Adventure.” For this activity students will go to the city to pass out lunches, cookies and will hopefully have the opportunity to witness to some of the homeless people. Bobby thought it would be great if the students could get a glimpse of what it would be like so we went up to find some homeless people we could interview on camera to play for the students later. It was difficult to find anyone who would agree to be on film, but Andrew scouted out one guy and offered to buy him some food. The guy refused but then caught up with us a few blocks away saying that he had changed his mind. We got him some clam chowder and as Andrew interviewed him, I noticed that he had a cigarette in one hand, a beer in the other, almost no teeth, and an interesting story. We found out that he was addicted to drugs, didn’t really work or have a place to live, but had been living there for 35 years. He claimed to be a Mormon who occasioned a Catholic church, but didn’t want to talk much once we started asking him about Jesus. For the rest of the day I thought about this homeless guy and how, we aren’t that different. He was only interested in getting a free lunch out of the deal, but we wanted to show him Jesus. Sometimes we are only in things for what we are getting out of it, or for how it will improve our situation in life. Once we are challenged too far, or asked difficult questions, or have to change or give up our comfort, we just kind of ‘check out.’ This homeless man wouldn’t even just be honest with us, he kept trying to imply, “I’m fine”, when it was clear that he wasn’t. Pride really can keep us from seeing our need. I have needs similar to his–food, shelter, clothing and a Savior. It is only by God’s grace that I am in different place.

On Sunday we had a leaders meeting at our place for lunch. It was a good time to talk about future events, how to improve our ministry to others and ways to encourage our students in their spiritual growth. Everyone is always at a different place in growth, but we are either growing, or we’re not. A difficult group, we found, are those who aren’t. How can we inspire and challenge those who have kind of just ‘checked out’ to grow? I was once again reminded that things like change and growth and getting people to care, starts with me caring, growing and changing. We talked about how we can do this by not just chasing after people that they might modify their behavior, but praying that they might be changed in heart. This is a good safe-guard for me against complaining, arguing and negetivity…it starts with me.

I was reading 1 Peter 4 this weekend, some verses seem very prevalent to this topic: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers….have fervent love for one another…be hospitible to one another without grumbling…as each of you has a gift, minister it to one another.” Rather than checking-out-to-lunch, let’s “commit our souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

“The whole world spins for Your glory to shine,
And all I have is already Thine.
God, here’s my heart, it’s no longer mine,
I give my life to Your grand design.”

I am happy to return to the blogging world! Due to my increasingly busy work days and the broken land line at our apartment, I have been unable to update until today. Phone line fixed and a moment to spare I thought I would post an update…

Last weekend was Bobby’s birthday. To celebrate we went to Carmel on Saturday afternoon to an awesome place called Rocky Point Restaurant. The restaurant is right on the rocky pointed cliff over the ocean. It was overcast and picturesque and Bobby got some beautiful pictures of the coastline. After lunch we decided to pay a visit to the new shark exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Rumor had it that the aquarium held the first Great White shark to ever be kept in capitivity. Barely a year old, she was only 5 feet long. And despite all of the signs and proddings to re-think the fear of great whites I wasn’t convinced. Especially after talking to an employee about her feedings. Divers never go in to feed her or they might loose a limb or two. Though she kept saying, “Isn’t she a beauty” after studying her for almost 2 hours I remained firm in my conviction that she and her family are dangerous predators.

We still have not finished celebrating. Bobby holds to a celebrating-life mentality. Every day he lives like it is a great one and finds ways to make any day special for me. The other night I made a pie and we decided it was in honor of his birthday…even though it was days later. For Bobby a birthday celebration is like those old Jewish feasts…2 weeks long!

On Monday I sprained my back moving something (I’m still not sure exactly what!), and have a 2 inch bruise on my lower back from the pulled muscles. I quickly visited my chiropractor who had a difficult time adjusting it because it is so inflamed and causing much pain. Doing all she could, she ordered me home to ice, stretch and take anti-inflammatories. My return visit on Friday will hopefully yield better results.

A few difficult things have crept onto our plate this week and as we spend late nights discussing together and talking with friends I have been giving some thought to the idea of perseverance. When circumstances are overwhelming I always seem to start thinking how can I escape this? But I think that when we are obeying God’s will and taking heed to the events that He is orchestrating in our lives escape, ignoring it, or denial are never even options. Someone once told me, “A Christian has the ablility to live un-infected and un-affected by circumstances.” I find this idea of such a dynamic life focused so whole and complete on the Lord to be something very worth aspiring to. There is a verse that says “Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Though the external things are not falling into place like I want, I can have hope and persevere by fixing the eye of my heart on the Lord. I like how Bobby put it when he said, “Are you alive or living?” He explained how there are two main heart attitudes towards life: One is a half-hearted, going through the motions of your life. And the other is a whole-hearted, intentionally living for God’s will. I was encouraged when he said that we can’t just believe that God is a good idea, but we must believe that He is better than the world, or the way we want things. He has to be the best. So, instead of getting all caught up in the happenings around us, we’re standing firm, each day at a time, believing that we will “see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13)

What a week! February has arrived, President Bush has a new 4-year plan, and our weather has gone from 58 and overcast to 70 and sunny. It’s a beautiful day and even though I’m stuck in my office I’m thankful to be alive and doing well on this, here Thursday. It seems that things are always going on in our life…good, bad and ugly…God is growing us alot through the happenings these days. I’m glad to have hope that He is growing us from yesterday, taking us into each tomorrow, and giving His grace to live today. James 4 says, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

We seem to be having problems where phones are involved. Bobby and I were so excited about our upgraded cell phones. But mine was lost for awhile due to an address mistake and arrived almost a week after Bobby’s…in which time he noticed an equipment problem in his. It’s nice that you can just mail it back and they send you a new one, so in the meantime Bobby is cell phone-less eagerly awaiting the replacement. I guess our home phone was feeling left out and it suddenly started having major static and interference, so much so that I had to call SBC to get it fixed. However when I was told that it would cost $55 fee to have a technician simply come out look at the problem, I changed my mind. So now I’m not sure what we’ll do about that…The moral of the story is, if you are trying to reach us via-telephone and can’t…we’re sorry that our phones aren’t being cooperative. Please hang up and try your call again…(in a few days!)

It being such a beautiful day yesterday Bobby happily walked out to his car to go to work, but didn’t realize that he left his keys inside locking himself out of our apartment. And without a cell phone he couldn’t call me so he walked down the street to Starbucks and Ty called my office for assistance. It was pretty amusing.

At the recommendation of my sister, I started reading The Cross Centered Life, by C.J. Mahaney. In it I read an inspiring challenge about living cross centered days, “If the gospel is the most vital news in the world, and if salvation by grace is the defining truth of our existence, we should create ways to immerse ourselves in these truths every day. No days off allowed.” I found this exhortation to be very fitting because sometimes we say, “I’m having a really stressful/bad/frustrating/sad day…so I’m not going to take the opportunities I have to proclaim truth and hope to others.” Or, “I am just so busy that I don’t even have a chance to think on these truths or about God in my day, I save that for my devotional time.” I like how he challenged to create ways to immerse myself in that as a lifestyle, and the way that I think not something that I do. As long as we have today, we should live for Him. I like how James 4:14 says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” He warns us not to be all about our schedules and planning the future. Be about living obedient to the Lord today because we might not even have tomorrow.

It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away…

There is alot to be said for a day off. Most people think of a Saturday as a “day off”, but my Saturdays tend to be very busy. I usually spend them catching up on household things, bill-paying, activities, laundry, meetings, and commitments…more and more things find their way into my schedule book and take up the 24 hour rapture-from-the-work-week, Saturday. This past Saturday was my first real day off in about two months. I didn’t have to drive anywhere, make appointments, or anything. Instead I spent the day sleeping, cooking, reading, talking with friends, even went on a walk…I had a Saturday of renewal and it was wonderful.

Feeling rested and renewed I have a sense of inspiration today. I feel excited about a new week and the opportunities that it may hold for me. Yesterday Bobby talked about the need to live available for the Lord’s use. I think when we are stressed and tired and our life is chaotic or we just can’t seem to get it together and do enough in a day…the idea of availablility seems impossible to fit into life. This weekend I realized that if I am disciplined–mastering my time, rather than letting time master me–all of me, not just my schedule, is available for the Lord’s use. In my life, availability is closely linked to a lifestyle of discipline. Waking up early enough to take the time to be ready for my day; eating healthy and getting plenty of rest; reading and thinking on the Word; being in daily contact with friends and family that care for me and encourage my obedience to the Lord; praying continually about everything; talking less, listening more; thinking about others above myself; looking on the bright side of things; being on time; encouraging someone; focusing on God and not my circumstances. As God has been growing me in these ways, this becomes my lifestyle and my desires culminate into being obediently available to Him. I think all of the lessons I’m learning somehow fit into this. “Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life.” (Deuteronomy 30:20) Are we available to Him?