Ketchup and the Frying Pan

Life has a way of building up and making things ugly.

This frying pan is like my heart. 

When Jesus came into my dead heart He brought light and beauty. 

The copper bottom of this pan, when new, was bright and pretty. 

But years of neglect built up and it become dirty and dingy. 

In my heart, sometimes I let sin build up until it is covered by something ugly and needs to be cleaned. 

That's when I do the very best thing!

I let Jesus write His name on my heart. 

It's His presence that brings the cleaning. 

I know this is just a pan and not really my heart, 

but because He is ever present 

I can still find sweet Jesus 

even in the commonest places, 

like the dirty frying pan. 

Doing what He does best. Cleaning. 

Do you know what I smeared all over that ole dirty, dingy copper pan? 

Ketchup. 

Blood red ketchup. 

When the God of the universe spreads 

His red blood over my 

sin that's when the cleaning begins 

and His light can start to shine through.

You can see His name! 

I love it. 

JESUS  

So let the blood of Jesus spread all over your heart. 

Let His presence be the first in your mind. 

Then the name of Jesus will shine through your life for all the world to see. 

Ann's Blog

I found this picture on Ann's blog.

It reminds me of our fellowship at Antioch.

"Sometimes community is those people around 

you who help you get through the mess"

Along side that, our hearts desire is to choose joy. 

Dangerous Fudge

I got the recipe off of Pinterest.

Don and I made them together. It was a fun time. 

Do not make these. They are hazardous to your calorie control. 

I ate one, two, three .... five, six ... I don't even know how many. 

Now I am going to go and count my calories for the day. I bet I did some real damage. 

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/04/no-bake-reeses-fudge-bars.html

Guilty as Charged

I have been listening to Enemies of the Heart

by Andy Stanely. 

The writing and concepts seem pretty simplistic, 

this audiobook read 

"your actions revel the condition of your heart." 

My mind said .. 

"Psh! As if we have never heard that before. 

Can you possibly say anything interesting

 that I don't already know?" 

Funny thing, 

I didn't even catch my judgmental attitude. 

I have some friends that are doing things differently then I think is right and Bam! 

My thoughts raced with judgment. 

This time, I heard my sinful thoughts. 

I wasn't thinking judgment in love and concern for their situation but just simple self righteousness. 

Wow! What a loser I am! 

This morning, I am thanking God for the conviction of my sin.

I was so haughty yesterday. 

As I had listened to the book, I wondered if I even had any unresolved ugly in my heart ... and well, God is such a kind Judge, He encouraged me in righteousness by showing me my own selfish ugliness. 

The ugly in my heart.

This morning, I go to that righteous, kind judge and I admit my guilt, I lay my case at the feet of the court and rightfully, 

I am found guilty. 

I am also found loved and atoned for. 

  

With my humbled heart and by the power of Christ

 I am grateful. 

Grateful that the Lord has shown me what separates me from Him. 

I never want to be separate from Him. 

By the empowering of the Holy Spirit 

I will try again today. 

Oh LORD, I need you! 

Thank you, Lord. 

Psalm 100

The Sermon On Sunday

We have all been gifted. Some have 10 shares, some have 5 and some even have as little as 1 or 2. 

We learned Sunday that the amount of gifted shares isn't our focus. Our concern is glorifying God not counting our shares. We take what the Lord has given us, invest it into the lives of the people He loves and PRESTO ... we get a good return for our investment. 

Easy to write about on a blog post ... But what if you don't know how to share your gifts? What if we say the wrong thing, act the wrong way or don't have the right kind of faith to move those mountains? 

Let's look at God's Word, what did He do with His disciples that didn't properly use the gifts they were given? Nathan had seen Jesus do many miracles but the day there was a huge crowd and only a few fish Nathan was baffled. He had been given the gift of seeing Jesus miracles first hand but he blew it. He had no idea how to feed all the people.  

How about Peter? Oh man, that poor guy! If anyone did it wrong it was him. Impulsive and fearful. He had been a close companion of Jesus. He had been given the gift of seeing things first hand. He ate the bread and fish, he walked on the water for a brief moment. WOW! That should have been enough of a gifted share for anyone to be able to have 100% return. Yet, he fell into the water and he denied Christ. 

Who doesn't want to be strong in the Lord, able to recognize our gifts and use them like warm sunshine on a cold day? We might wonder what happens when we are clumsy or wrong as we use the gifted shares that have been given to us.

In the Bible there are some examples of folks that did it wrong. Those disciples ... even when they were wrong Jesus loved them ...  He continued instructing and teaching them the right way to go. Staying with them, walking with them and then finally sending the Holy Spirit to be with them all the time. 

You and I are the same. Have you ever wanted to take back the words of your mouth the second they came out? Have you ever absent mindlessly  walked by a hurting person? Have you come up short and been careless with our gifted shares? 

Thankfully, even in the foolish use of our shares we can count on Jesus to love us, to instruct and teach us, and to continue walking with us as we try again and again to invest in the lives of the people He loves, the ones He has put into our lives. We can have confidence and hope. We can invest in the lives of others in the best way we know how and trust God with the increase. He stays with us, through all our ups and downs. He walks with us through our mistakes. That means we can be brave and love the people He loves. We can entrust the time we have been given in their lives.  

In the end, it doesn't matter how many gifts you have been given, rather, just invest as the Lord leads, read His Word and trust Him with the return. You will be filled with joy and will be so happy knowing you will be glorifying the Lord.