Red Bird Devotions #27

Life Saver

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

When I was just a wee little girl with no bangs (because my friend, Robin and I decided to cut them off with safety scissors during Kindergarten class), sometimes my mom would buy me Life Savers.  And I got to eat the whole roll myself.  And I loved this.  But what I really loved the most was that I was able to open them myself.  My mother had shown me how to pull the little blue paper string at the top of the roll and pull off the little silver top.  The fact that I knew how to do this formerly mysterious task thrilled my bang-less self and made me feel very grown up. Sometimes, my mom would even ask me to open her pack of gum using the same method, and when I did this, I felt so very helpful.

You know what?  God doesn’t need us.  He is fully capable of achieving His purposes and showing His glory without our help.  But, He loves us, and sometimes, because He is our Father, He lets us help with some of His tasks.  Sometimes, these tasks are small, like writing a note of encouragement, and sometimes, they are huge, like telling the nations about Jesus, but either way, we can feel good about being included in His plan.

He allows us to help Him “pull the string” because He wants us to know that we are part of the Kingdom, and He knows that we care much more about things in which we are invested.  By walking with God and watching for where He is working, we can get involved in His work and grow up in His grace.

‘Cause He is the real Life Saver, you know.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:4

Red Bird Devotions #1

My daughter-in-law, Erin, painted a red bird to remind me of God's closeness

GOD IS WATCHING!

Laying in my bed as a little girl, I could discern the evidences of my parents evening routine: the cleaning of supper dishes, the re-folding of the newspaper, the click of the television being turned on.  Knowing that my parents were reassuringly close soothed me and allowed sleep to come quickly. Because they symbolized safety and protection to me, I could rest in the reality of their presence.

As an adult, I no longer live with my parents, but I am part of the household of God.  And sometimes, even though I am part of God’s family, I feel far from his presence. I think we all, at least occasionally, struggle to believe that the “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18). But since God’s Word is trustworthy (and our feelings are fickle), we must embrace the reality of his closeness.  How do we do this?

Adopt a Symbol:  When my kids were little, I introduced them to this closeness concept by telling them to look for a red bird (normally a cardinal) when they were outside playing.  When they had sighted one, I would tell them “God is watching!” In this way, the red bird became our “symbol” of God’s omnipresence.  Sometimes, now, when I am walking alone in the woods, God will show me dozens of them!  When I see them peeking out at me from the branches or flying overhead, I feel he is spoiling me with his attentive presence. 

Find a sign in your everyday life that will symbolize God’s nearness.  Not only will spying this special symbol be a delight to your own soul, but if you share it with others, it can become a prompt for them to pray.  My friend Jody chose the Monarch as her symbol, so whenever I see one (or any butterfly for that matter), I thank God for my sweet sister in Christ.

Look for Evidence:  I am not a natural optimist, so I have to train my eyes to see the good.  I tend to notice all the things that are uncomfortable or inconvenient instead of God’s gifts to me.  Lately, I have retrained my brain to see the lavishness of God’s provision by speaking aloud to myself.  If I feel the cool wind on my face as I sit on my porch, I say, “That is good!”  If I fix a hot meal to feed my family, I say, “That is good!”  If I hear the early morning song of a robin outside my window, I say, “That is good!” If my dog prances with joy on his morning walk, I say, “That is good!”  If I finish a difficult writing assignment, I say, “That is good!”  In all of this self-talk, I am reminding myself of the things God has put in front of me that are purely gifts of his grace; gifts like his creation, his provision, my health, my abilities, my freedoms.  God has surrounded us with gifts in our ordinary lives.  If we look around, we will see them and be reminded of how very much he loves us.   

What do you see, hear, or feel right now that can help you focus on God’s lavish grace?

Count your Blessings:  Sometimes I find myself pouting, “Woe is me.”  I look at my situation or season that I am “enduring” and label myself as a victim.  Do you struggle like me?  

 

If you are a Christ-follower, you are not a victim; but you are more than a conqueror through Jesus! (Romans 8:37).  How do we live as conquerors?  We give thanks.  Gratitude is the antidote to my pity party.  As I met with my friend Molly this week, we decided we needed a reboot in the thankfulness department, so we made a plan.  We agreed to each keep a “Blessings Journal” to remind us of God’s love and provision for us.  I started mine, just two days ago, by recording three blessings I noticed each day. Just looking for these blessings throughout my days has changed the way I think about my life.  Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I have ended the previous two days feeling overwhelming gratitude for the life I am living. What a difference it makes when we turn our eyes from ourselves and onto the Giver of all good things!

 

When we adopt practices to remind ourselves of God’s reassuring closeness, we can rest in the security this God-awareness brings.  When we learn to see him in the very ordinariness of our everyday, practicing his presence becomes as natural as breathing.  When we still ourselves long enough to hear his still small voice, we will hear our Father say, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Let’s Look

Let’s Listen

Let’s Linger.

Let’s live in his Love.

God is watching!

My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.

Psalm 131:1-2 

Confessions of a Reformed Feeler: Part 1

I think the breakthrough came when I finally got over myself.

I used to really struggle with feelings of rage and bitterness and unforgiveness.  The key word here is feelings.  I held my feelings close to me like a warm fuzzy blanket.  They were my barometer for my happiness and a holding tank for all the slights I received.  My feelings determined the way I analyzed how you treated me.  If you regularly hurt my feelings, you were bad and I despised you.  If you often made me feel good, you were perfect and easily forgiven.  Looking back, I can see that my feelings had been my idol since childhood.  I didn’t always like what I felt, but my emotions were strong and I felt powerless to change them.  Sometimes, I felt superior because my feelings produced in me great joy that was unattainable to my thinking friends.  But at other times, I felt shame for the powerful moods I experienced (and got in trouble for) because they made me into someone I never intended to be.  When this shame was directed inward at myself, rather than upward to God, it produced in me contempt towards those who hurt me.  When I carried this contempt around long enough, it turned to bitterness and despair.  This despair gave me no hope for change.  Many times, when in this despair, I felt such self-hatred that I just wanted to hide from life.  I wanted to disappear. I questioned why God had made me this way.

Feelers like me feel trapped by their personalities.  They are often proud and self-centered people who wish they weren’t this way.  They are proud because they can feel and sense and intuit things that their thinking peers cannot.  They can reach mountain top highs when things are good, but they can also descend into seemingly inescapable pits when their feelings are used only to glorify themselves.  And they are self-centered because their entire world is arranged around how they perceive things.  Feelers don’t always like operating by their emotions, but they don’t seem to have any other option.  It is as if God built them with one operating system, but no upgrades are available—so they keep on using what they know and what is comfortable to them.  When a thinker tries to change a feeler by saying, “Just change and act this way”, the feeler would often love to comply but doesn’t understand how to do that. In their mind, they don’t know how to try because the only language they have spoken up to this point is feelings.  Thinking through their responses seems undoable—a foreign language to them.

Oftentimes, high feelers (people who function primarily by emotions) will resent  thinkers because life seems so much easier and more clear for the thinker.  Thinkers seem to be able to make logical decisions and comply with them, while the feeler must use every ounce of strength he can muster just to remain in neutral. Life is very complex for the feeler and they often feel betrayed by their natural reactions because these reactions lead them into sin.

When I was trapped in my emotions, I needed lots of grace; lots and lots of grace.  Especially when I didn’t deserve it.  Luckily, God provided me with a husband who gave that to me.  Because Brent believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself, I was able to trust him when I couldn’t trust myself.  During this dark time in my life, Brent was a little picture of Jesus to me.  He forgave me when I hurt him and helped me crawl out of the pit into which I had fallen.  Every feeler needs someone who believes in them—someone who will not judge them.  Feelers don’t need to be told what they are doing wrong.  They are keenly aware of their failings. To a feeler, their failings make them failures. 

So, I guess what I want to say to my thinking friends is this:  For a very long time, I was caught up in my self and my feelings. I was completely consumed with my moods, my circumstances, and my comfort level.  I was not fun to be around…but I knew no other way.  Then God came in and rescued me and released me from this prison.  He instructed me through His word when He said... 

“Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, then you will be ABLE TO TEST AND APPROVE WHAT GOD’S WILL IS, His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) 

And I was set free.  Not free to never struggle with my emotions, but free to use the renewed mind that God had placed within me when I accepted Him as my Savior—the mind that I didn’t even know I had!  I was now able to use this renewed mind to govern my emotions, rather than letting my emotions govern my mind.  My feelings were no longer my masters!  I was set free from myself!

I say all of this to help you understand your feeling friends and to give you some insight into their struggles.  There are things that you, as a thinker, can do to help…or to hurt…your feeling friends and loved ones. Check in later this week to learn how to extend unconditional love to people who long for freedom from themselves.  Or if you are a feeler like me, discover how you can gain mastery over the rouge emotions that master you.

And remember thinking friends, we need you. Please be gentle with us.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

 

Community (by Luke)

Since life at the ranch has been a little hectic, I decided to let Luke be my guest blogger this week.  Knowing that words love me, my first-born often gives me stories that he has written about his life.  Here is one of my recent presents from him.  (As an explanation, Luke is living at home this semester, working at an internship in a nearby city.  He is loving his new "professional world" but missing his friends and "family" at the University of Iowa.  This is one story about that.)

I didn’t know how much I actually wanted it. People that is. I'm the type of person where, if I have a choice, I’ll read a book by myself in my room. So I didn’t realize how much purpose I found in hanging out with people.

I started out the year living in a house. It was much different than living in the dorms, namely there was a lot less people. And I had to make my own food.  It was kind of weird, because my house didn’t have living rooms. It doesn’t seem like  this would be that would be a big deal, but this along with most of roommates being introverted like myself, means I spent a lot of my time alone, even being very close physically to other people. I didn’t ever feel like I was missing something per se, but I felt like God had done a lot more in the past and I wanted him to do more.

True community is a structure where Christ is preeminent even in the most mundane elements. The Salt Company fall retreat was specifically focused on the community of the church. And afterward everyone came home greatly motivated to “have more community” but having a vague idea of to do so. I decided to give this community thing my best shot. Slowly, I began to invite people over to my house. I started by having people over every Monday for lunch. I just invited any of my friends that would come; with no regard for if they were in the same friend group or if they even knew the rest of the group. It wasn’t fancy, when I first started out, I didn’t even own plates and I still only have two spoons, but there was always spirited conversation and it was fun. My friend, Bri described Monday lunches as “the most eclectic group of people she had ever met.”

As the semester progressed, I started having people over for lunch other days of the week. And supper.  And breakfast. Since I was close to campus, I also had people over to do homework. We always worked on my kitchen table. Sometimes, people would stay over until 1:30 am when I have class at 8 am the next day. It was exhausting. But then, I started again to see God at work in the people around me. Selfishness and laziness began to lose their grip on my heart as I spent more and more time with people. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed and I didn’t know if I could handle it, but I miss that community.

Remembering Rosebud

Now it's Cole's turn to tell his mission trip story. Read on... Earlier this summer I went to an indian reservation in South Dakota, called Rosebud. our main purpose of going there was to get to know a few the kids and develop a good relationship with them, then hopefully tell them about God's love. One of the kids that i got to know was a 5 or 6 year old named Mark. Mark young enough that he still had a pure heart that hadn’t been corrupted by the many temptations that the teenagers had to face, like drugs or alcohol. Even so he still had many troubles with his family life, we were talking one day and he told that his mom didn't live with him. We spent a lot of time together playing and talking, just getting to know each other. We had some good talks about the bible, he really liked the books mark and james because his name was Mark James. I talked to him about how the world was created, the ten commandments, and finally how Jesus loved him so much that he was willing die a horrible death just for the sins in little Marks heart. We ended up one night drawing with sidewalk chalk. I drew the bridge illustration, how man was on one side, a cross representing Jesus in the middle and God was on the other side. I told him the only way to get to God was to walk across the cross and ask Jesus to forgive his sins. Mark then proceeded to get up from where we were sitting, Grabbed a piece of chalk, drew a two foot Cross on the ground and walked across it saying that he wanted to follow God now. So I got up and brought him to the Veterans center, where we were staying for the week, and prayed with him to become a Christian. We spent a lot of time together for the rest of the week, and when I had to leave I started to tear up because we had become really good friends, then he drew me a picture of us to playing together and I had trouble getting in the car and saying goodbye to Mark, a good friend, and a new brother in Christ. Cole Haverkamp

Disconnected Community…(or Why Facebook is so Popular)

I’ll be honest.  I don’t struggle with watching TV.  I almost never watch it; it holds no appeal for me.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t waste time.  Things like email, Facebook, and blogs capture my attention in such a way that, at times, it worries me.  I can literally spend hours (usually not in one sitting—but minutes add up ) checking and answering emails, perusing updates, photos and videos on Facebook, and reading other blogs. I’m afraid to get a smart phone because I know I am weak and I fear I will be constantly distracted by the availability of these mediums.

When I allow myself too much computer time, I feel guilty—like I am being a bad steward of my time; “Tomorrow,” I say, “I will only spend 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening on these frivolous activities”, but then tomorrow comes, and I waste time again.  What is it with me? 

Why do these internet  “connections” draw me in?  Why do I gain satisfaction from these “virtual” conversations?  You know why?  Because I long for community.  So do you.  That is why these social medias are so appealing for many of us—especially those of us who work from home (and have no co-workers) or those stay-at-home moms who feel restricted by their lack of freedom.  Things like Facebook create a sense of belonging and acceptance because communication and approval happen; “Oh!  Somebody liked my status!” “Look how many people commented on my photos"!”  We all need to be noticed.  We all need an “atta-girl!” now and then.  This kind of thing happens on Facebook.  This kind of thing happens on blogs.  But why aren’t we doing more connecting in real life? 

Connecting in real life requires risk.  Connecting in real life takes pre-planning and actual talking.  Connecting in real life requires us to show up, put our real selves out there, and invest in others’ lives. It’s not always pretty, but it’s almost always rewarding.  Connecting builds a strong communities, solid societies, and people bonded by common beliefs.  When people connect in real life, they watch and learn how to raise their kids, how to love their husbands, how to make dinner, and how to be hospitable.  You can’t truly experience these things through Facebook or blogging or surfing the web.  And an emoticon ((hug)) isn’t nearly as satisfying as a real one.  As our society becomes more and more connected to technology and disconnected to people, we lose the sense of “unity” that the “United” States once shared—think about the movies you have seen or books you have read about barn-raisings, 4th of July celebrations, small town festivals, even the well-know Thanksgiving story with the pilgrims and Indians.  Now think about your own life; recall things you have done with a specific group—mission trips, vacations, building projects, even connections groups and Bible studies—we often bond with others during these times because of the experiences we have shared together. 

We all want community.  It’s how God intended His church to be—He even chose a community of people—the Israelites—to be His chosen ones. And who doesn’t long for the kind of fellowship the New Testament believers had in Acts 2:42-47 (see below). When we connect like these believers did, we show the world God’s love in 3D. 

In the olden days, people created relationships by spending time together, sharing meals together, doing life together. Let’s stop being lazy and dependent on Facebook for our social fix, and let’s get out there, meet our neighbors and share life.  We will all be the better for it.

Now get off the computer, make a plan, and do something to promote community in your family’s life this week!

Then keep doing it.

Leave a comment to let me know what you did!

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs and wonders were done by the apostles.  All of the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to everyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

August Rush

I’ve been struggling to post this month.  Here’s why:

I got a new cat and took it to the vet for rabies shots in the same week that I took my old cat to the vet to be put to sleep. I replaced Shay’s light in her closet while she was counseling at kids’ camp because it had been burnt out for 3 months and she couldn’t see what she was wearing. I bought chocolate milk and fruit snacks and Gatorade for Tess and Shay who were doing 2-a-day cross country practices and nuts and apple juice for Shay who was doing band camp between these two practices.  During this time, I also brought Shay her instrument which she forgot when she was going to band camp.  You can read about that here. I also purchased fudgesicles for the littlest mountain goat (that’s what we call Cole since the hiking trip) to eat after his day-long mowing jobs (our yard and the neighbor’s).  I had breakfast in the park with my parents, my sister, my niece and my family.  After that, my sister and I got our groupon manicure/pedicures.  But before that, Brent and I had to go to Target on our date night because I had to buy a fake toenail because my toenail on my right foot fell off (again!) and while we were there, Brent said, “They actually sell those?”  And I said, “Yes.”  And to work off that breakfast and the fudgesicles, I have been going to boot camp at 5 am, except the one morning that I went at 9:30 am so that I could be on TV for some feature on the news.  The reporter that worked out beside me at 9:30 that day said, “Holy Cow!” a lot in kind of disgusted sort of way.  We had a bonfire with the neighbors and instead of s’mores, we had these things called popovers where you take a marshmallow and you put a Reese’s PB cup in it, then you wrap biscuit dough around that.  Then you cook this concoction over the open fire until it looks done.  We all ate them and said, “mmm, these are so much neater than s’mores.”  I designed 4 D6 programs for the book of Judges and you gotta love it when the children’s program is about Jael pounding a tent peg through Sisera’s skull.  I also wrote 12 chapters of a study guide for a 36 chapter book that we will be teaching for women’s Bible study this year.  I wasn’t aware that the book had 36 chapters when I eagerly offered to produce said study guide. I accompanied Tess to our backyard for her senior picture session.  I visited Wheatsfield and bought some hard red wheat berries for $.99/lb and I ground these up in my fancy blender until I had flour then I baked homemade bread from this and it was gooooood.  I packed up my firstborn son’s possessions in my suburban and followed him in his green buick to Iowa City where he started his 2nd year of college.  Soon, he will be 20.  20!  wow, I must be getting old.  I attended D6 teacher’s training, TSC coaches training, women’s ministry planning meetings,  and ate at El Azteka with my friends a few times.  I went to a super duper fun craft/social/hang-out day at another dear friend’s house and made these little tile blackboard things that I am supposed to put up on my fridge so everyone will know the menu during the week, but I haven’t put them up yet because I don’t have magnets and if I put them up, it would require me to have a menu in advance.  I made lots of yogurt, ate lots of ice cream and went to Tropical snow, but only once.  I also bought my littlest son size 13 sneakers and measured him because he was looking as tall as me.  Oh, and the kids also started school…and homework…and full time sports.  I watched THE HELP, TRUE GRIT, and part of LETTERS TO GOD and we cleaned our garages and went to Orange Leaf to tell ourselves good job.  But I didn’t get a nap on the hammock on any of these beautiful evenings…but I want to.  Maybe tomorrow.

I’m glad September is almost here.  Maybe I’ll get busy and write more regularly while I am waiting for my toenail to grow in.

Guest Blog—Conversations with Internationals

During his first year at IOWA this past year, Luke helped organize a conversational English partner program to foster relationships with international students.  The goal was to get to know these students better by meeting with them informally, develop relationships with them, and eventually share the gospel with them as they start to understand the language more and more. 

To help others in the group, Luke came up with this list of questions to ask international students.  They might help you, too, as you attempt to minister to “the foreigner”.

These are all questions I have personally asked international students. I hope they can be of use to you.

1. Help me pronounce your name

2. Where are you from? what province/city?

3. What is it like where you are from, how is it that same or different from here?

4. What are you studying?

5. Do you like your major?

6. What is your most favorite class?

7. What is your least favorite class?

8. Have you made many friends at Iowa?

9. Why did you choose to go to school at Iowa?

10. Have you been busy lately?

11. Tell me about your family

12. Ask about siblings (Chinese students are especially fascinated with this topic)

13. Is the weather here similar to where you are from?

14. How do you like the food here (as compared to home)?

15. Bring up a current holiday, ask if they understand

16. Where do you live now?

17. Where do you want to live next year?

18. What do you like to do for fun?

19. How was your weekend?

20. What do you think of America(ns)?

21. What sort of things make you happy?

22. What are you looking forward to most?

23. Teach me to say something in Chinese (or their native language)

24. Teach me to count to ten (in their native language)

25. What does your dad do?

26. See if you have common acquaintances, locations or areas of study

27. Do you play any sports?

28. Do you like to watch any sport?

29. What will you be doing over Thanksgiving/Christmas/Spring/Summer break?

30. What did you do over Thanksgiving/Christmas/Spring/Summer break?

31. Ask to tell a story from your life

32. Ask them to tell you a story

33. Ask how they text in their native language (its really interesting)

34. Read any good books lately?

35. Explain a common idiom

36. Explain a hand gesture

37. Ask if they have a Facebook, become friends

38. Current events

39. Music

40. How many time zones away is their home country

41. If you ever have any questions on what a word in your homework means please ask me.

 

Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Exodus 23:9

Amish Addition

Here’s a little math problem for you.  Get a pencil.  And you might need to draw a diagram as well.

A.  If one (1) friend gives you Amish Friendship Bread starter in a Ziploc and you feed it and mush it and babysit it for ten (10) days …

B.  Then if you separate that starter into five (5) different starter Ziplocs but neglect to give any of of it to your friends because you know that they are busy with graduation parties, track meets, and mowing their lawns and none of them are Amish anyway…

C.  And if you bake two (2) loaves from one (1) of starters, but keep the other four (4) bags of starter on your countertop and feed them and mush them and care for them for ten (10) days because you feel guilty about throwing them away even though they make your life stressful…

D.  Then in ten (10) more days if you decide to just stop the cycle of friendship and you go ahead and separate each of the four (4) bags into five (5) starter Ziplocs and each of these starter sets makes two (2) loaves, and if you already have two (2) loaves frozen in the freezer from your first starter, how many cuts would it take to slash all four (4) tires of the car of the person who gave you the Amish Friendship Bread starter? 

 

ANSWER:  I’m not sure, but I think it might take about thirty-eight (38) less cuts (meaning four (4) really good gashes!) than the forty-two (42) loaves of Amish Enemy Bread that you have in your freezer.

How’s my math? 

Wanna come for brunch?

Or do you need to fix your car?

Wisdom’s Marinade

“Who you are in 5 years will depend on the people you hang out with and the books you read.”

My friend Kathy shared this quote as she taught about “Influence” at Bible study this week.  She told of a man she once knew who used this as a kind of “signature” statement—kind of like “hello!” or “good-bye” with a little challenge added in.  I like it.

As the Bible says, the people with whom you keep company can really determine the course of your life:

He who walks with the wise grows wise,
   but a companion of fools suffers harm.  (Proverbs 13:20)

Negative influence is very powerful.  Are you hanging out with Godly friends?  Are you being a Godly friend?  Now is the time to evaluate—not in 5 years.

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.   (1Corinthians 15:33)

Good books—the Bible is the first and foremost of these—change the way you think.  The way that you transform your thoughts as a Christ-follower is by feeding your brain lots and lots of truth.  I call this “marinating” your mind.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

When we marinate our minds with God’s truths and not society’s lies, we can more easily discern what we are supposed to be doing in this world.  We gain wisdom from God’s words so that we are able to find out how we can join Him in His work—His good, pleasing and perfect work.

Good books, written by godly authors, are also an excellent way for us to put some meat on the truths that God lays before us. These books, when read and evaluated in the light of Scripture, can help us formulate what we truly believe and why we believe it.  The key phrase here is “evaluated in the light of Scripture”.  We must use the Bible as our “ruler” when reading anything to make sure that what we ingest is truth.  Human authors can err in the area of theology—God cannot.

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11)

Classic books can also expand and grow our minds.  Just like the Bible, sometimes they are hard to understand at first because they were written in a different era.  But, if you take time to get familiar with the nuances and inferences of the language and culture of the milieu, the stories are rich with lessons about human nature, love, and often, God.

Who are you today?

Who do you want to be?

Who will you be in 5 years?

It’s up to you.

And now, I will get off my soapbox, go snuggle in my polka-dotted chair, and with my wise husband by my side (in his own chair, not mine), I will read a book—a really good one—and begin to marinate. 

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
   the man who gains understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
   and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies;
   nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
   in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways,
   and all her paths are peace.

Proverbs 3:13-17