My "Extra" Time

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”  My times are in your hands…

                                                                      Psalm 31:14a

Finding extra hours in a day is like finding lost treasure.  I tried unsuccessfully to be a good steward of my allotted 24 hours a day, and eventually settled into survival mode.  Figured I’d eventually have time to spare in the nursing home.

Then, with encouragement from a friend, I made a bold lifestyle change and discovered many extra hours in my day!  Can’t wait to tell you where I found them.  You won’t like it, you won’t believe it, or you won’t waste another second before trying it yourself.   

I stopped watching TV.  Can you imagine life without the noise and violence and vicarious murder and mayhem?  No cursing of God’s name or, what a coworker calls “gratuitous soft porn.”  This is where most folks say righteously, “I don’t watch much TV.”

Do you twitter, chat, and scribble on Facebook walls?  Answer emails, browse the internet, and text message?  Scrapbook, wood-work…  You get the picture.  My personal weaknesses are playing Words With Friends on my iPad, and escaping inside the pages of a good mystery novel.  

These activities aren’t bad in themselves, my friend, but left untamed they are bad for us.  The constant stimulation affects our emotions, clutters our brains, wastes our time and steals our focus.  In a word, they are distractions.

I love Webster’s definition of distraction:   “Something that distracts, especially an amusement; a diversion. Mental or emotional confusion or disturbance.”    

We don’t need more time, we have plenty.  When we spend it on important matters first – family relationships, workaday responsibilities, spiritual, mental and physical growth – we have time left over for the fun activities I mentioned above!  

But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!  He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12).

The fight is over, the devil lost, and he’s hopping mad about it.  He wants to take down as many of God’s people as he can.  He prefers we lose ourselves in worldly distractions so we won’t have time for heavenly ones.

Father in Heaven, the devil doesn’t like it when we use wisely the time you’ve given us. Protect us from the idolatry of worldly distractions.  Through Christ our Savior, Amen

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas

Been Through Car Wash Lately?

There are several things about me that I really don't like.

1 - I eat wayyyy too much fast food.
2 – I misplace things all the time.
3 - I am accident-prone and break things easily.

I think all of these come from being overly laid back; I treat most things with a “no big deal” casual attitude. For the most part, I think that’s a good quality. But sometimes, these negative sides really get under my skin.

My husband often has to be very patient with me. Just after Christmas, I hurt - okay, wrecked - our car when I drove too closely to a pole at the gas pump. And I can't even blame it on my kids for distracting me - I was all alone!

A couple months later, my absent-minded-ness caused our family computer to get broken. I left the laptop on the arm of the couch, and my son knocked it to the floor during a game of “Spiderman Jumping.” It was unfixable. And of course, I had forgotten to back up my files.

That same week, I was wrapping up some of my husband’s camping gear, and I destroyed an expensive air mattress by accidentally catching it with a hook. I just looked up at him and said, “I don’t think you should let me touch your stuff anymore.”

My bad habits have a way of getting me down. At first, it is frustrating to deal with the same issues over and over. After a while, I begin to feel embarrassed that I can’t seem to kick certain habits. And then, guilt sets in.

My husband is always very kind to me when my “no big deal-ness” wreaks havoc for the umpteenth time. He tells me not to worry about it - that it's only stuff, and that he loves me completely. In these difficult moments, his gentleness reminds me of the love of God.

It's such a gift to be forgiven of the same mess-ups over and over - to be truly known and still truly loved (even when we don't seem to improve). God loves us this way. I believe that his love is not in spite of our faults, but sometimes, He has compassion on us because of our faults.

In Matthew 9, Jesus is traveling from town to town, teaching and healing. Verse 36 says,

“When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.”
(from The Message)

Each of us is God’s precious creation – He loves us as His children! You don’t have to hide your flaws from God. He already knows they are there. And in those stressful moments when you discover you’ve messed up yet again, don’t beat yourself up. Use your guilt to point you to God.

Author Gary Thomas writes, “Not so long ago, the word ‘polio’ struck fear into the heart of every parent. Today, the effects of polio seem little more than a very bad memory Why the difference? Doctors have learned how to beat the disease. …Guilt is a fierce reality, but God has provided a cure in the death and resurrection of Jesus.”

Thomas says guilt is a car wash, not a parking lot. You can come out on the other end with a new outlook! We get another day, another chance. We cannot exhaust God’s grace! So turn your guilt into a call to worship. Confess your shortcomings, but spend as much energy rejoicing in the God who forgives.

"God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' " --Hebrews 13:5

Bicky Tolar

Abilene, Texas

Materialism is Harmful for Marriages

God’s wisdom is, once again, supported by man’s discovery.  According to a recent Brigham Young University news release, scholars at BYU studied 1,734 married couples across the country.  Each couple completed a relationship evaluation, part of which asked how much they value “having money and lots of things.”  The researchers’ statistical analysis showed that couples who say money is not important to them score about 10 to 15 percent better on marriage stability and other measures of relationship quality than couples where one or both are materialistic.  “Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure we looked at,” said Jason Carroll, a BYU professor of family life and lead author of the study.  He continues, “There is a pervasive pattern in the data of eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other.  How these couples perceive their finances seems to be more important to their marital health than their actual financial situation.”

Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Paul’s inspired advice on the subject of materialism is quite to the point: a materialistic mindset will cause negative results in your life.  A materialistic person has an undo regard for worldly concerns.  This person is focused on short-term satisfaction and achievements, while neglecting long-term fulfillment.  The materialistic person is thinking physically, not spiritually.

When materialistic priorities find fertile ground they take root.  Unfortunately, as the Lord warned us, materialistic roots will bear evil fruits.  Goals and plans and expectations will all be influenced by the insatiable desire for “more.”  Enough is never enough.  The evil root of loving money can cause undesirable conditions, such as: overextended debt obligations, neglected or injured relationships, anxiety-induced health issues, and wandering faith.  Interestingly, according to an ABC News review of the survey, “The correlation between materialism and marital difficulties remained stable regardless of the actual wealth of the couple…  it (the survey) may simply mean that people who are more focused on making money have less energy and interest left to invest in their marriages.”  Once again, it is not the possession of money that is causing the problems.  It is the love of money, materialism, which is a root of all kinds of evil.

Focusing on godliness and being content will achieve true long-term fulfillment and satisfaction.  The contented person is satisfied.  He is not chasing after “more.”  Are your physical needs being met?  Great, that should be enough.  You arrived with nothing, you’ll leave with nothing.  Don’t buy into the materialistic mantra, “What have you done for me lately?”  The spiritual mind is mature and aware of the temptations and traps that grow out of an evil root.  

Carl  Smith
Stephenville, Texas

Anything for the Blessing

Can you remember the last time you changed something big in your life? 

Change is hard for anyone.  I stumbled across this statement the other day:  “They always say time changes things but you actually have to change them yourself.”  Changing our habits whether they be thought patterns, attitudes or some aspect of our lifestyle doesn’t simply come with the passing of time.  Most often we find ourselves at a life juncture that causes us to think carefully about our lives and to consider the thresholds we need to cross to move into a better way of life.  Scripture’s word for this is blessing.  God wants us to live in blessing.  But, He never zaps people with a magic wand and makes it happen.  A lot of blessings come into our lives only after we take deliberate steps that pave the way for said blessings to materialize.

A while back I had a conversation with a friend who had recently crossed some thresholds of his own.  At one point he remarked:  “I think we miss a lot of good things (blessings?) because we are too thick-headed to come to terms with the kind of change necessary to allow us to experience the blessing.  It’s sort of like a gift that someone gives us.  We know there’s something good on the inside, but because it didn’t come the way we imagined, we refuse to open it and enjoy what’s inside.” 

The story in 2 Kings 5 makes me chuckle and scream every time I read it.  Naaman was a Syrian commander who had leprosy.  Leprosy was and still is incurable.  He received word from a young Israelite slave that a prophet in Israel named Elisha could possibly heal him.  As the story climaxes, Naaman puts together a large entourage and heads south to find Elisha.  He has already imagined how his healing will occur.  To his surprise, Elisha orders him to go dip in the nasty Jordan river seven times.  Simple terms to say the least.  Naaman’s response?  “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:12)  Scripture says pride goes before the fall.  Another way to put it might be, “Pride stands between us and blessing.” 

Sometimes we need the wise words of somebody outside our situation to say, “Look past how the blessing comes and what is being asked of you and….seize the blessing!”  2 Kings 5:13-14 says, “But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” 

What good things (blessings!) are out there waiting for us to come to terms with a change threshold of some kind?  We may have to humble ourselves.  We may have to say words we’ve needed to say for a long time.  We may need to train our heart to turn loose of a habit or embrace a new habit.  In the end the only thing that matters is transitioning into the blessing.  We just need to take off our shoes, walk down the river bank and get to dipp’n. 

Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas

Nate the Great

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  1 John 4:4

Someone once told me that a good question to ask yourself when you are going through tough times is, “What does God want me to learn from this situation…or how can I draw nearer to God through this…?”  Lately, I have been blessed with some challenging events that caused me to ask those very questions.  

This summer our 2 ½ year old, Nate broke his leg running down a hill at a friend’s house.  His legs got ahead of him and he slipped on the grass.  His body turned sideways and his downhill leg went out from under him, while the up-hill leg pronated inward and rotated.  The effect was a loud, sickening “pop” that resulted in all the parents present to run to his aid.  Later after some late night x-rays we found out that he had a double break with a spiral fracture of the left femur.  I was weeks away from delivering our third child and having nearly constant contractions.  

Nate was placed in a hip-spica cast, which runs the length of the broken leg, to the knee on the opposite leg, up to the middle of the chest and held together by a 1 inch dowel across his thighs.  He was in the cast for six weeks.  Three and half weeks into his casting I delivered our third child via c-section.   Thankfully, both of our moms came from Texas to help for nearly a month.  If they hadn’t come to Alaska, I might have been committed to the loony bin.

Three weeks “post-cast” Nate and I walked out to the storage cabin behind our house to retrieve some toys.  Nate had been walking about ten days and was still a little shaky.  He clung tightly to my hand as we painstakingly traversed the uneven, muddy ground.  Normally, our trek would have taken about ten minutes; this day it took a little under an hour.  As we slowly walked I admired the Alaskan fall beauty that surrounded us and tried not to cry over my son’s struggle.  His broken leg had healed nearly a half inch shorter and I wondered if his severe limp would ever go away.  My mind worried ahead to possible future athletic disappointments, lifelong physical pain, and social stigma.  As if he was reading my mind, Nate said, “Momma, I want to run.”

“Okay, let’s give it a try…” I replied uncertainly.

“Not yet, not today…I can’t…but I will run, momma.  I will,” he emphatically stated as he trudged ever so slowly onward.  

His “declaration of overcoming” hit me squarely between the eyes.  No matter the outcome of his accident, God was already training his heart and mine.  

The passage in John 4 encourages us to be aware of false prophesies, but can also stand as a reminder to be aware of Satan’s schemes.  He wants nothing more than for God’s children to worry about tomorrow and to doubt the power of Him who resides in us. Satan and his workers are also seeking to make us forget that God has already overcome our greatest problem (death) and through him WE are OVERCOMERS as well.   God is bigger than any problem we might face in this world, even the gut-wrenching, heart-rending pain of seeing your child suffer.  In fact, he understands better than anyone.

Dear God, thank you for being greater than all that stands against us.  You are the great overcomer, and we praise you for inviting us to do the same.

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, Alask