Funday

Bible Tuesday - David Part 22

Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned many days for his son.
After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon’s death.
2 Samuel 13:37-39

So David's family is all jacked up.  His daughter is disgraced. His son Amnon is dead.  His son Absalom is banished from the kingdom.

Joab comes up with a scheme to try to fix the situation.  He gets this random woman to disguise herself and approach the king with a sad story.  Do any of you remember this story?  This lady is about to lay down the straight up Gospel to David and I don't think I have ever heard this story preached...ever. 

Then the woman said, “Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.”
“Speak,” he replied.

 The woman said, “Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son?  Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.
2 Samuel 14:12-14

Please stop fooling yourself with the ridiculous notion that you are in control.  Right now, God is devising a way to bring you to Him.  You aren't reading this post because you happen to enjoy the musings of a chubby housewife.  God has a plan and he is a bunch more patient than you are.  Trust me on this one.

David hears the story and relents.  He allows Joab to bring Absalom back into the kingdom under one condition.

But the king said, “He must go to his own house; he must not see my face.” So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king.
2 Samuel 14:24

David wants to relent and still punish his son at the same time.  Don't you see people do this all the time?  The "I'll forgive but I won't forget" routine.  But this is not God's way.  If you say you have forgiven someone but you simultaneously still hate their guts, it might be time to re-examine that forgiveness. (And yes, I am preaching to myself here...big time.) 

God could have forgiven our sins through the blood of Christ and just left it there.  But He didn't.  He reconciled us to Himself.  It's not enough to be allowed back into the kingdom.  We must strive to be always in the presence of the King.

Glutton Part 6

"I know it seems restrictive."   These were the first words I heard from the Weight Watchers leader, a  beautiful, slim 50-something woman.  She seemed really nice.  I mean, my attitude wasn't bad to begin with.  She continued, "But eating whatever you want is how you got here in the first place."

Was this heifer for real? I haven't eaten 'whatever I want' since 8th grade.  (If I had known, I would have really enjoyed those meals more.) 

Do people really think that's how fat people get fat?  That we just gorge ourselves on whatever suits our fancy for a few decades and then go on a diet?  Is this why it's so easy for you to dismiss us?  Make fun of us?  Pity us?

I cannot remember the last meal I just enjoyed.  Even if the food was superb, I'm always thinking about the consequences.  Remember the great meal I had in Belgium? Seriously one of the top ten experiences of my life.  Wanna know what I was thinking as I savored that delicious cheese croquette?

"Oh good grief, I hope my pants fit at least until the plane ride home.  Is there anywhere one could buy a pair of yoga pants in Belgium?  Why are the people most likely to wear yoga pants also the most likely to NOT do yoga?  What if the pants I am wearing literally explode from fatness right now?  When I get back to the USA I am going to eat nothing but Atkin's protein shakes for six months.  That will totally work.  In fact, it may work too well.  What if I get so skinny that people think I am anorexic?  What if I become anorexic? 

Meanwhile my husband was enjoying the identical food and thinking something like this. "Cheese...good." 

And I'm not making fun of him.  That's all you should be thinking while eating a meal.  But being a glutton robs you of the pleasure of food. 

If we really want to dissect the sin of gluttony, this is the heart of it.  Eating and NOT enjoying it.  Food becomes the enemy and each day's success or failure is measured against that adversary alone.

Funday

Blog Note - Glutton

A word of explanation on the 'Glutton' series. 

1.  I'm not sure it's a series.  For all I know, I may never have another thing to say on the topic.  I highly doubt it but it could happen. 

2.  There is no rhyme or reason on how this deal gets posted.  I write as things occur to me.  In a perfect world, the story would have a beginning and an end and all posts would be chronologically correct.  I do not live in a perfect world. 

3.  If you know me, then you are completely used to my incredibly bad habit of starting a conversation with you that I have half completed in my mind beforehand.  "Glutton' is no different.  So if it seems like a post is missing some relevant "How the heck did we get here?" information...well, it probably is.

Quoted

An overdose of fear comes from ignorance of the grace of Christ.

 

– John Calvin

Bible Tuesday ( A tiny break from David)

 I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you.
2 Kings 20:5

For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.Job 5:18

O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.Psalm 30:2

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14


Today I told the story of my divorce to a friend who had never heard it.  Today I told the story of my divorce without shedding even one tear.  The whole thing took me surprise to be honest.  For so many years, the circumstances surrounding the end of my marriage caused me immense pain, even after I had no feelings at all left for my ex-husband.  I kinda thought it would always be that way.

Stop giving "time" all the credit people.

It's God who heals all wounds.

Glutton Part 5

Sin is just so much easier. 

I’m ashamed to admit that, but it’s true.  Doing exactly what I want to do takes no effort at all.  But trying to do the right thing?  Doing things God’s way?  Well, that takes work. The breakthrough only comes when I realize that work is not bad.  Having to work at something doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. 

I don’t have to try to be faithful to my husband.  I am a stay at home mom.  My exposure to other men is minimal.  I love my husband and I have no desire to compromise our marriage but I can’t honestly say that I have lots of temptation to do so. It’s easy for me to be a Godly, faithful spouse because I don’t face my adversary in that arena.  My arena is the kitchen, the grocery store, the restauraunt.  Any place where food shows up, I will be in a battle.

I stand here today bearing the scars of my defeats. I look bad.  I feel bad.  And I'm not fooling anyone.  Most sin is easy to hide for a while.  But gluttony isn’t.  Half the shame of being a glutton is knowing that every bite I take in secret will eventually be on display.

And finally, I think I have figured out one of the biggest reasons behind my failure. You see I wasn’t really asking God to change my life, I just wanted him to change my pants size.  God was able to give me far more than I was requesting.  My prayer proved how small my faith was.  Being fat isn't my problem.  Gluttony and sin is my problem.  I have spent 25 years trying to control the symptoms.

Now it's time to cure the disease.

Funday

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

 

 

 

Dear God,

Thank you for another year.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you.

Let me fight the good fight.

Let me serve you with excellence.

And please let me lose 50 pounds.

Amen

A Day on the Farm

Customize a free slideshow design We had great time at Lucky Ladd Farm.  Make a trip out there.  You won't regret it.

Bible Tuesday - David Part 21

So just to recap last week.  David's son Amnon raped his siter Tamar and Absalom (Tamar and Amnon's half - brother) was real, real mad about it.

After two full years Absalom had sheepshearers at Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king's sons.  And Absalom came to the king and said, “Behold, your servant has sheepshearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.”  But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him, but he would not go but gave him his blessing.  Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” And the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?”  But Absalom pressed him until he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. Then Absalom commanded his servants, “Mark when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Do not fear; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.” So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and each mounted his mule and fled.
2 Samuel 13:23-39

See if David had dealt with this situation when it happened, he wouldn't be dealing with this nightmare now.  But he didn't.  He ignored a HUGE problem and then, like an idiot, assumed that the whole thing had blown over.  Don't make this mistake in your own family.  And don't assume that you don't need to deal with your stuff just because it is nowhere near as bad as incest and rape.  God puts men in charge of families.  I know some of you don't like that but that ain't my problem.  Along with that power comes a great responsibility.   Sure, you can ignore the problems but don't think they won't eventually come back ten times worse.

David found this out the hard way.  See he started out in a bad place.  His kid had raped his other kid.  There's no way to make that situation sound any better.  But because David chose to abdicate his God given responsibility as head of his house (not to mention he was the dang king), now he has a dead son, a son that is a murderer and a dishonored, damaged daughter.  

Glutton - Part 4

My birthday is this week...which makes me think about cake.  Not presents.  Not the passage of time.  Not the precious life that God has bestowed on me.  Cake.  White birthday cake with buttercream icing.  That's what birthdays mean to me.

If you read that paragraph and still don't believe in food addiction, I kinda don't know what to tell ya.

So for the sake of this whole deal, let's just assume you can be addicted to food.  Ok, great.  Addiction is treatable.  Not curable...treatable.  And how do you treat addiction?  Total abstinence, right?  Ask any addict in a twelve step program and that will be their answer.  And here's where the food addict runs into big trouble.  You don't have to drink alcohol or take drugs to survive.  You probably know loads of people who never drink or use drugs.  Do you know any one who doesn't eat?

And hear me on this.  I am not suggesting for one second that recovering from alcohol or drug addiction is easy.  I am just saying that food addiction is different.  For one thing, very few people doubt that alcohol and drug addiction are real.  But a large majority of the population really believes that food addicts are just fat and lazy and could slim down in no time if they would just eat everything in moderation.  If I hear the phrase 'eat everything in moderation' one more time, I'm gonna take a hostage. 

So take a walk in my sugar addicted shoes for a typical year.   So January is ok.  (Let's face it, I ate so much at Christmas, I could probably fast the entire month and be fine.)  February is my brother's birthday.  March is Ava and my dad's birthday. April is Savannah, Kaylee and Anna's birthday. May is nobody, yay!!!  June is Dylan's birthday.  July is Katie and Emily and my mom's birthday.  August is my wedding anniversary (Melting Pot! Tradition!) September is my birthday (cake plus sad 9/11 type eating).  October is Kevin's birthday plus Halloween.  (You know I have never once made it through Halloween without a candy binge...NEVER.  I once made it until after 10PM, which was disheartening at best.  This year I might take an Ambien and just go to bed after lunch.  It could work.)  Then November has the Glutton fest known as Thanksgiving which snowballs straight into the lost month of December wherein I barely have time to sleep lest I miss some holiday goodie that must be consumed in order to celebrate the birth of my king. 

Here's my point (and I do actually have one!)  I don't have to eat sugar at any of those celebrations.  No one forces me to consume anything.  I always have the option of eating something that I am not addicted to.  But can you understand why it's hard?  If you were addicted to cocaine, can you imagine how difficult it would be if one day a year, the whole nation celebrated crack?  Stores put it on sale.  Your coworkers put bowls of it on their desks for anyone to enjoy.   You were forced to buy mass quantities of it to hand out to little costumed kids as they rang your doorbell.  What if you were an alcoholic and the people you loved most in the world brought you a gallon of vodka on your birthday?  Or served the most delicious wine on Thanksgiving and urged you to drink it so you wouldn't hurt Aunt So and So's feelings? 

Maybe you think these scenarios are ridiculous.  But this is how life feels for me.  Every family stop for ice cream is a punishment and a test.  Even if I pass, it hurts.  And while no one would take their alcoholic friend to a cocktail party, no one thinks twice about taking a glutton to Dairy Queen.

You see addiction is not an excuse for the sin of gluttony but for a lot of us, it is the reason. 

Funday

Quoted - Tozer Edition

"Sinners talk about God, appeal to God, use God's name; but don't obey God. That's why they are sinners."

AW Tozer

Book Review - Gone Girl

 

 

The following is a true story.

 

I read a few chapters of this book.  I was immediately hooked by the story.  The writing is just excellent.  So, as usual, I talked to Kevin about the book.  He rarely reads fiction so I generally just give him a brief summary of whatever I am reading.  One night I placed the book on my nightstand and fell asleep.  The next morning, Kevin appeared unrested at best.  He sheepishly admitted that he had stayed up most of the night reading this book.   I demanded that he not speak to me until I finished because this book had so many delicious twists and turns, I feared that just looking at him would give away the ending.

 

My husband loves many things.  His children, ice cream, me, etc.  But he really, really loves sleep.  So if he gave up a good night's rest to read this book then , trust me, you should too.

Band Season 2012 - Early days

This photo slideshow created with Smilebox Two kids in band this year.  Double the fees and double the fun :) Much more to come as the season progresses.  Are you as excited as I am?

Bible Tuesday - David Part 20

If you think your kids are bad, David is about to make you feel a whole lot better about your situation. David now has a bunch of wives who have a bunch of kids.  And a few of them are about to start acting real, real bad.

Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her.  Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.
2 Samuel 13:1-2

I actually think it's kinda cute that the kid is so in love that he is physically ill.  The cuteness of this deal is fixing to be over though.

Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him.  But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”

“No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”

 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.

“No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”
But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”
2 Samuel 13:10-17

Don't you know that I just wanna kill this dude...

So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe, as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters.  But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.
 Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, “Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, my sister, keep quiet for now, since he’s your brother. Don’t you worry about it.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.
2 Samuel 13:18-20


I read this and expect David to intercede and fix this situation.  You just assume(hope?) that he will make things right.

When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry.
2 Samuel 13:21

I don't know about you but I was expecting a bit more here.  David basically does nothing and the results of his passivity are going to tear his family to shreds.

Glutton Part 3

"I never see you eat."

This is definitely in the top three things that people say to me all the dang time.  (Number 1 is "Where are my gym clothes?"  Number 2 is "Can you work in the nursery this Sunday?") 

But, of course, people do see me eat.  What they mean by "I never see you eat" is "No way you could get that fat by eating what I see you eat."  And that's ok.  I understand.  But, honestly, I probably eat a lot less than you. (And by you, I mean some assumed normal person.) 

For example, I've never gone to a fast food drive thru and ordered multiple meals and eaten them all on the way home.  I have almost killed myself trying to drive and eat a Blizzard though.  (That should be even more illegal than DUI because at least drunks are trying to drive.)  I've also never been on one of those binges that you often see depicted in Lifetime television movies.  You know the ones where the camera pans around the kitchen to show empty pie tins, melting ice cream cartons, and then the poor woman is shoving cake into her mouth using her bare hands?  Don't get me wrong.  I've eaten a metric ton of cake in my life.  I just prefer to use a fork...and a plate..and maybe some ice cream just to cut the sweetness.  But I digress.

I am not trying to impress you with these admissions. There are people who suffer with eating disorders that do eat mass quantities of food.  I'm not any better than them. I commit a different version of the same sin.  I just want to try to help you understand that being a glutton isn't about how you look or the quantity of food you eat.  It's about the sin of never being satisfied.  It's about knowing that you are damaging the body God designed for you and taking the bite anyway.  It's about your heart...not your stomach.

Funday