An Update and a Christmas Blogging Break

Hey Everybody! So I wanted to give you an update on my Aunt Teri. She came through the surgery fine, and it looks like she'll be able to come home tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers and continued prayers for her speedy recovery would be appreciated!
I haven't been able to blog this week because it has been hectic. I've decided to just take a break from the blog until the new year! So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you have lots of fun-filled memories with your families and remember what this time of the year is truly all about!

Prayer Needed

I mentioned yesterday that my aunt Teri was having an MRI. They rushed the results and found that she needs to have surgery. She will go in for surgery on her neck next Thursday, which is the soonest the surgeon could possibly do this. Pray that God would give her relief from the pain in the meantime. Also pray that He would help her to maintain peace about the surgery.
As far as the surprise, sorry, nothing to offer. I was supposed to have a 3D ultrasound yesterday, but the technician had an emergency and couldn't be there. Oh well! I guess I'll see what she looks like soon enough!
It's going to be a busy day. Have to watch my niece and nephew this afternoon, then we have a Christmas party tonight. Lots going on! Hope you all have a great weekend!

In the Words of Trace and Raegan...WOOHOO and YIPPEE!

Lately, my adorable niece and nephew have been saying WOOHOO and YIPPEE to everything. Especially a phone call from their Uncle Ben who they would like to have living much closer.
So today I'm taking their favorite words and using them myself! Why? you might ask. Well because the wonderful people at VF Corporation have given us half a day off just because. Plus they gave us a gift card to boot. Now I'm not a shopper by any stretch of the imagination, but trust me, I will take free money any day, and right here at Christmas, it's extra nice!
So I have things to do before getting out of here (like getting food from the brunch buffet they setup for us!) But I'll post a normal post tomorrow. To all of you working people out there, may your Christmas be blessed with some much needed time off! And maybe, just maybe I'll have a special surprise tomorrow. Just offer up a prayer for cooperation! (I'll explain tomorrow!)

***And in all seriousness, please pray for my Aunt Teri. She's been having severe pain in her neck and has had some loss of use in her left arm. She had an MRI this morning. Please pray that she'll receive some answers from this test quickly. Better yet, pray that God would remove this pain from her body entirely. Thanks to all you prayer warriors out there!***

Take A Stand

Yesterday my mom and my cousin Scott put my mom's lighted Christmas tree and deer out in the yard. I think my mom was trying to make it seem more Christmasy despite the fact that it's 80 degrees here in NC. Anyway, they took the deer out, set them up, got out the extension cords and put everything where it looked neat.
The entire time our dog Chocamo (don't ask, there were arguments about whether to name him Chocolate or Mocha, so we ended up with the mix), anyway, Chocamo just stood by and watched. He had no problem with the deer in the yard. That is until my mom plugged them in. Then Chocamo went crazy barking at the "invaders" in the yard. See, the deer move their heads back and forth. I suppose that as long as the deer weren't moving, they were fine, but when they made a move, it made Chocamo very uncomfortable. To the point that it took him quite a while to come back into the front yard. I believe by this morning he had made his peace with the deer.
I said all that to say this. I think we are sometimes like those deer, and the unsaved people around us are like Chocamo. The unsaved have no problem with us as long as we don't make a move. If we just say we're Christians and pretty much leave it at that, they have no problem with us. It doesn't make them uncomfortable.
But when we start acting out our faith, putting works behind our words, then it puts them out of their comfort zone. And some of them will yell and scream and make big fusses about how we shouldn't be so vocal about our faith. Others will avoid us all together. And then some will finally make their peace with us and realize that there is something to what we have to say.
And it's for those who realize that there is something behind our words, that we must continue to stand. See, my mom wasn't going to unplug her deer simply because the Chocamo didn't like them. She knew he'd get used to them eventually. And this morning he was laying beside them, so I guess she was right. We can't stop taking a stand when someone calls us a crazy fanatic. We can't stop taking a stand when people choose not to be around us. We must stand no matter what. Check out this verse from I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes your Christian walk may make those around you uncomfortable. But your work is not in vain, and you just never know when your stand might convince someone around you that they should come to Christ as well. So stand strong no matter what!

An Important Thought In A Moment Of Clarity

I know that I haven't been as faithful to posting lately as I have been in the past. And right now I can't even blame this on the fact that I've been busy. Actually, in preperation for my maternity leave I've handed most of my work off to someone who is training for my job, and my boss is using me for special projects. So basically, I'm bored.
But despite the fact that I have tons of time to blog, this doesn't help the fact that my mind seems to be completely devoid of original thoughts. I fear I'm suffering from what my sister calls baby brain. I mean sure, I could have posted about the new shape of Trix cereal and how I wonder if it really is better now that it's shaped like a circle instead of the cute little fruit shapes. (Trix is now a favorite cereal of mine, and before you tell me about the sugar it contains, let me just remind you that it's a great source of whole grain AND calcium. Two things I need right now!) Anyway, I didn't think you'd be interested in the Trix shape debate.
Or I could have posted about the fact that 3 year olds seem to be mortally afraid of blowing their noses, despite the fact that they can't possibly be able to breathe because they are so stopped up, or the fact that the same 3 year olds don't seem to like breathing through their mouths because they just might not remember to breathe if they breathe through their mouths. Or this could just be my 3 year old niece, who knows.
Then I thought about how some people get so into the Christmas season that they put antlers and a red nose on their Jeep and lead the way for all the other cars going down the highway. I mean I've been having some very serious, thought provoking things flying through my mind lately.
But then I actually saw something yesterday that made me think, and miracle of all miracles I still remember it this morning. So in honor of this moment of clarity and memory, I will share this thought with you!
Actually, it was a thought brought on when I saw an article titled, "Ice storms bring power outages, deaths." Now, I didn't have a chance to read the article, but the title struck me. I mean doesn't that order seem to be a little off. When exactly did the loss of a modern convenience take precedence over the loss of human life?
Now I'm sure that this writer had no intention to make light about the people who had died in the ice storm, but the title just made me think about how little the death of others affects us now-a-days.
I mean, TV subjects us to death every single day. And most of the time it isn't just the kind of death where someone passed in their sleep. It's usually death caused by a violent murderer, or a terrible car crash, or a house fire.
And after a while, it becomes just another death. Which is how I believe Satan wants us to react. Because if we become immune to the fact that people are dying all around us, then we forget the urgent need to share Christ with those dying souls.
And that's an urgent need we can't afford to forget. Because many of those dying souls won't go to heaven, and some may never even know they had the chance if we don't take the opportunity to share with them while we have it.
So I think God gave me this moment of clarity to remind me how important it is to be on the lookout for those souls, and maybe, just maybe He wanted me to remind you too!

Going Into Your Samaria

My brother preached at my church Sunday night, and he brought out a point that I hadn't ever really thought about. He brought a sermon out of John 4 where Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well.
I'd always heard about how Jews weren't supposed to associate with Samaritans. Samaritans were considered beneath them. A Jew was supposed to go out of his way to avoid going through Samaria.
But Jesus said he, "must needs go through Samaria." And you want to know what, it wasn't even in his direction. He went OUT OF HIS WAY to go through the place that most avoided. He went out of His way to a place of discomfort in order to bring this woman the Water of Life.
Then my brother said something that really convicted me. He said, "How many times do you go out of your way to go through your Samaria?"
And I honestly had to say, "Oh me!" Because as much as we try to say that the Jews were being racist or terrible, how many of us are just like them. How many of us would drive 20 miles out of our way in order to avoid getting gas at the gas station in the bad part of town.
Now, I know that we all use the same excuses. "It's just not safe to go there." "The gas is cheaper at the nicer gas station." And those excuses may be true. The question is, if Jesus called you to go and stand by a gas pump and pump gas for strangers in a bad part of town, would you be willing to do it. Would you be willing to make yourself uncomfortable in order to win someone for Christ?
Before you say, "Well, Jesus isn't ask me to risk my life!" I have to say, our lives are not our own. And if Jesus calls us to do something, I believe He will offer His protection to us.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I was convicted that I need to get more out of my comfort zone. I need to be more willing to go into my Samaria when I'm called there. (And we are all called there. After all Jesus included Samaria in His great comission in Acts 1:8.) Who knows, maybe you'll see me at the gas station someday!