My Eyes

My eyes have never seen my Saviour...
yet my heart gazes on His beauty...

My lips have never kissed his cheek...
but my soul has been kissed by His care...

My hands have never touched his face...
But His Spirit holds my hand and gently leads me...

My ears have never heard His voice...
Yet He spoke to me today...

My arms have never embraced Him...
Yet He lifts me up from the angry waves...

My feet have never walked streets of gold...
But my hope sees that day afar off...

when I will see my Saviour with my eyes,
when I will kiss His cheek with my lips,
when I will touch His face with my hands,
when I will hear His voice with my ears,
when I will embrace him with my arms,
and walk beside Him in the way!

The Great Divide

I've discovered some things along the way
in my relationship with God.
And it's not all that different
than the way he deals with others.

There comes a point in every believers life
where God asks you to put away childish things
and come closer to His side...
to have a truly victorious life.

Yes, He always wants that for us...
but sometimes we become complacent
and satisfied with our spirituality.
Not smug necessarily, just content
with where you are.

But Christianity is never about being in one place
never to move again.
Christ is ever drawing us closer
and closer to Him.

I have seen it in my own life
and in the lives of others.
Oswald Chambers remarks on this
in his book,  My Utmost for his Highest.

He says, "God's order has to work up a crisis
in our lives because we will not heed the
gentler way. He brings us to the place where
He asks us to be our utmost for Him,
and we begin to debate; then He produces
a providential crisis where we have to decide-
for or against, and from that point
the Great Divide begins."

The 'Great Divide'...
That point where you have to decide
whether you are gonna give it all up
for a closer walk with Him...
or not.

My husband taught us one time
that God will show you a truth in His Word...
then He'll bring along something to test you in
what He has shown you.
If you trust what He has shown you...
and make the right decisions
you'll grow and He will go on
and show you some more things.
But if you don't use what he has shown you
He'll continue to show you that truth
over and over again and test you
to see if you will learn it and put it into practice.
But you won't go much farther in maturity
if you don't learn from the things He is showing you.

He'll bring you to a place
that you can't get through on your own.
Then He'll show you something
to help you get through it...
You can accept what it is He's
trying to show you...
Or you can refuse to learn
and go on suffering in your self pity.
Accepting produces the peaceable
fruit of righteousness that Hebrews talks about.
Rejecting produces bitterness
or at the very least apathy and discouragement...
"I give up!"

So which would you rather have?
The more abundant life the Lord
talks about in John 10:10...
Or the kind of life the majority
of Christians are living today...
a ho-hum existence of going to church,
coming home and living your own life
without the power of God!
I want more!
What about you?

Hateful Tasks

Today I decided since Aaron
had to do something he hates...
that I would join him
and do something I hate.

And since it was a sunny day...
which makes any hateful task
not quite as hateful...
I went out to clean the chicken coop.

I take Strider
since he also loves the sun...
(in actuality he loves everything,
a trait I seriously need to emulate)
and we head out with shovel in hand
to clean the chicken coop.

Running commentary:

"Strider...stop eating the chicken poop."

Shoveling...

"You guys (chickens) are disgusting...
don't you do anything but poop?"
"Ugh!"

"Strider...stop eating the CHICKEN POOP!"

A few minutes later...

"Sheesh, you guys...you stink!"

"STRIDER...STOP EATING THE CHICKEN POOP!"

More shoveling...

"I don't know why I even keep you guys...
you stink, you poop and half of you
aren't even laying any eggs."

"OK...Strider, go play somewhere...
you're disgusting!"

Later still...

"Strider...get out of the street...
Strider...leave the cat alone...
OK...get over here Strider...
Sit!"

"OK...all done"
"Now you girls have a nice, clean coop."
"Here's some fresh water...
and some food cause you're such good girls."

"C'mon Strider...how about a treat?
You were such a good boy!"