even as I sit down to write this blog I am truly humbled. God has done it again. He's messed me up..but I mean in a good way. I had the privledge of seeing my wifeget baptized this past week and my gosh was it incredible. I have seen an amazing amount of spiritual growth in her of the past few months...which is what she would tellyou about herself. Anyway, the spirit of God fell on that church during her baptism and it was one of the most intense spiritual experiences I have ever had...I'm still sayingto myself, "What actually happened?" I don't think I could explain it natural terms. A mind-numbing peace followed by tears, Holy Spirit tears...the big hot kind that won't seem 2 stop.
Ok, I say all that 2 tell u I was on a "spiritual high." I was feeling real good about how in touch with God I was or thought I was and then entered Moses...not the Biblical Moses but more on that later. I have been in the middle of having my house renovated. The foundation was cracking and sinking into the ground...note to the people who built my house,"never build your house on sediment..or sand" but enough of my preaching! Anyonewho has ever done the smallest amount of remodeling knows it always takes longerthan what you originally projected it would take and it costs more $$$ than U thought itwould. All this adds up to extra stress. We were fortunate in that we had a placeto stay FOR FREE the entire time this renovation was going on...my wife's parents! Theywere very accomodating but when you're not at your own home it's just never quite as easy 2 relax.
Well, after shimming the house with the help of my good buddy Zack and re-pouring the concrete to make the floors even we had to wait a couple of weeks to put in the carpet...I thought all this was gonna take place in 1 weekend..boy was I wrong.A couple of weeks went buy as we tried 2 find the best deal on carpet and we finally foundthe right one. That took another week for it to come in and the day had finally arrived forthe installers to come and put the carpet. The store made us feel at ease confirming thatthe installers would be arriving at our house somewhere between 10-1 on a Monday as I recall.
Well, Monday at 10am arrives..nothing. No phone calls, no carpet guys...whathappened? So I call the guy where I bought the carpet and he assures me everything isalright and that the installers just got started a little late but that they were on their way AAAAARRRRGGGHHH..this is not what I wanted to hear on a Monday. I was looking forward to getting back into my house and getting to sleep in my own bed after 3 weeksbut it looked as if today that wasn't gonna happen.About 10:50 I get a call from an un-identified number. I pick up and say "Hello" and on theother end is someone who speaks NO ENGLISH...well, very little anyway. The voice on the other end of the phone is someone slurring spanish and english together and all I could make out was "you house"and "very confusing"..at least I think that's what they said .Now, to their credit..if u have never been to my house before it can be confusing. It is definately in the country. It's the kind of house you really don't wanna ask mapquest how to get here cuz it will mess u up. Ok, now I am extremely frustrated. Not only is the carpet installer late, he is only 1 guy AND he's lost...and he can't even ask me or understand how 2 get here...ahhhh, dios mio.After about 10 minutes of me trying 2 explain(at ever increasing volumes) how to get tomy house I could see it was going nowhere. I talked louder and slower but he still didn'tget it. So I tried 2 see if he knew where Wal Mart was...cuz everyone knows where Wal Martis, right? I said "GO TO WAL MART", "I WILL MEET YOU THERE"...I have a black car..I said"UN COCHE NEGRO"..he snickered and I think he said "WHITE VAN". So best I could tellat this point the guy was gonna meet me at Wal Mart about 10 mins from my house andhe was gonna be in a white van.
I get in the car and needless to say this added to the stress I already had...this was not part of my plan. I called my wife and told her about the whole ordeal and she seemed to sympathize but I told her was gonna callthe place where we bought the carpet and give them a piece of my mind...I was gonna tell them how to run a good business. I got off the the phone and God spoke to my heartI realized that just because I knew the English language didn't give me the right to be frustratedwith someone who didn't. I think this is what we do as Christians some time. Just because we get it(only because God revealed it to is) that we think we can make other people get it.That the louder we talk and the more fancy words we use the better people will "get it".Not the case according to Moses(the carpet guy). No matter how loudly I spoke to him he wasn't gonna find my house, no matter how frustrated I got..it didn't help..so what happened..God showed me we must meet people where they are. I found some common ground with Moses. I met him at Wal Mart...why Wal Mart? Cuz it was some place hewas familiar with and could easily get there. Moses and I didn't talk much(cuz I knewit was pointless) but I just said "Follow Me"and he said "ok"!
All that yelling and and stress just to find some common ground. Well Moses turned out to be an incredible carpet guy and despite the language barrier we shared a few laughs..mostly him laughing at my Spanish I think..nevertheless...God showed me some important lessons that day that I hope I never forget...1.)Louder is not necessarily better 2.)Meet people where they are. Forgive me Lord for thinking I ever "got it"!....oh and maybe a 3rd lesson would be..don't always trust mapquest!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
God Speaks Thru a Kitty Cat
ok, i know what u are probably thinkin' if u are reading this and while it may be true that I am a little off my rocker, I've heard God speak yet again! Not thru a Bible Verse,although I've since been pointed to a relevant verse, not from a preacher or a hymn or oneof those fancy new worship choruses but simply thru a kitty cat. First let me give u some background. I am definately NOT a cat person. They seem kind of snobbish and it's always as if they are up to no good. They don't listen, they sleep ALL the time and they have razor sharp claws and tiger-like teeth...(did i mention they bury their own poop)?But "Skitty" is different. First of all my wife is deathly allergic 2 cats...she's not at all allergic 2 "Skitty" as she calls her. Could she be some wierd hypo-allergenic brand of cat,I don't know but she doesn't shed as much as a normal cat.
"Skitty" wandered up on our porch as a little wet kitten about April of this last year. She had been seperated from her mama kitty and was all alone and lost. She still had the little blue kitten eyes and was just an itty-bitty thing. I have to say I didn't warm up to theidea of having a cat very well. Past experience had taught me not feed the little stray animals and most certainly don't let them into your heart. Well, after a few weeks, I fell head over heels for this little kitten. We fed her and let her in the house occasionally and she was the most amazing little creature. She kept us in stitches running around and doin' all the stuff that kittens do. It took her a while to warm up to us to. At first, we would haveto leave food out on the porch and she would come and eat when she thought no-one was watching. We would open the door and try 2 let her in but she always scurried away. One day we opened the door and she crept on in the house, very cautiously at first, and she gradually got more and more comfortable around us. It's gotten to the point where now when she comes in she almost begs for attention.
We don't intend to keep her as an inside cat though. We both feel that she'd lose her cat instincts and just lay around all day. She was born outside and she needs 2 know that she has the option of going back out if she so desires. Here's where God spoke thru "Skitty"I was petting her one day and we had one of those petting marathons, my wife and I call them "love-fests" Skitty gets all up in your business and rubs noses with ya and slobbers all over U, it rocks! (All the while she purrs like a little motorboat.) Anyway, after the "love-fest" was over she walked over to the door like she wanted out. I was not gonna holdher against her will so I opened the door to let her out. She just looked up at me with the sweetest little kitty cat eyes as if to say "na, i think I'll stay in here with you". So i closed the door and went to sit back down. "Skitty" ran over to me and jumped in my lap andwe started round 2 of the "love-fest". At that point God spoke to me and said "see Davis U are like that little kitten, u have the choice to do whatever U want to do. U don't have tospend time with Me but I sure do love it when you do, especially knowing U chose to spendtime with me when u could've been elsewhere." God showed me how much of a gentlemanHe is. He would never force himself on me. He keeps the door open and gives me the choice/chance to spend time with him and He LOVES it when I do and He loves it when you do. When was the last time u had a "love-fest" with God?
BTW/ if u are wondering, the cat never actually spoke with the audible voice of God butwouldn' that be cool? One of his many names is "The Lion of Judah"
Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
"Skitty" wandered up on our porch as a little wet kitten about April of this last year. She had been seperated from her mama kitty and was all alone and lost. She still had the little blue kitten eyes and was just an itty-bitty thing. I have to say I didn't warm up to theidea of having a cat very well. Past experience had taught me not feed the little stray animals and most certainly don't let them into your heart. Well, after a few weeks, I fell head over heels for this little kitten. We fed her and let her in the house occasionally and she was the most amazing little creature. She kept us in stitches running around and doin' all the stuff that kittens do. It took her a while to warm up to us to. At first, we would haveto leave food out on the porch and she would come and eat when she thought no-one was watching. We would open the door and try 2 let her in but she always scurried away. One day we opened the door and she crept on in the house, very cautiously at first, and she gradually got more and more comfortable around us. It's gotten to the point where now when she comes in she almost begs for attention.
We don't intend to keep her as an inside cat though. We both feel that she'd lose her cat instincts and just lay around all day. She was born outside and she needs 2 know that she has the option of going back out if she so desires. Here's where God spoke thru "Skitty"I was petting her one day and we had one of those petting marathons, my wife and I call them "love-fests" Skitty gets all up in your business and rubs noses with ya and slobbers all over U, it rocks! (All the while she purrs like a little motorboat.) Anyway, after the "love-fest" was over she walked over to the door like she wanted out. I was not gonna holdher against her will so I opened the door to let her out. She just looked up at me with the sweetest little kitty cat eyes as if to say "na, i think I'll stay in here with you". So i closed the door and went to sit back down. "Skitty" ran over to me and jumped in my lap andwe started round 2 of the "love-fest". At that point God spoke to me and said "see Davis U are like that little kitten, u have the choice to do whatever U want to do. U don't have tospend time with Me but I sure do love it when you do, especially knowing U chose to spendtime with me when u could've been elsewhere." God showed me how much of a gentlemanHe is. He would never force himself on me. He keeps the door open and gives me the choice/chance to spend time with him and He LOVES it when I do and He loves it when you do. When was the last time u had a "love-fest" with God?
BTW/ if u are wondering, the cat never actually spoke with the audible voice of God butwouldn' that be cool? One of his many names is "The Lion of Judah"
Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
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