Ice Cream and Kisses

Okay, so today I am going to start with a couple of cute stories.
A few years back I worked at a company that employed several Hispanics.  As it would happen, years before I had started working there, they had hired a couple of young women straight out of high school.  They had been best friends forever.  Still are.  Before they moved up into the front office they were hired to work in the warehouse.  Well as the story goes, they are working together, doing their job, when all of a sudden, quite a few of the workers just up and started running for the back door.  One of the young ladies took notice of this and dropped what she was doing and went to grab her purse and started taking money out of it.  Her friend, not sure what to make of her friends actions, asked her what she was doing.  Her friends response was priceless.  "Didn't you hear them?  The ice cream man is here.  It's break time."  Her friend, face palmed and grabbed her and stopped her before she joined the running people that were jumping off the docks and disappearing into Phoenix.  "They weren't screaming "Ice Cream", they were screaming "La Migra"  Immigration had shown up and someone had been screaming "La Migra" over and over again as all the illegals took to foot. 
One more story, more recent.
Last night my daughter in law had had enough of the kids.  It was bed time and she was putting her foot down.  She declared to my grandbabies (her kids), "You guys need to get in bed right now because I'm about to get real pissy."   Everyone but Matthew, he's four, heads for bed.  She sees him and says, "Matthew? Are you trying to make me crazy? Go to bed!"  To which he replies (with the sweetest face EVER), "I cant, I am waiting for you to get real kissy"  You better believe he was immediately covered in kisses.
Now, those are two different stories.  But the point I am making applies to both of them.  Both misheard but a good misunderstanding.
One heard ice cream and one heard kisses.
What great optimism!
You know it is said of an optimist that they see the glass half full.  I really think an optimist sees the glass with potential for more.
So many times I think that we get caught up in our circumstances and can't see a way out.  How many times have you been going through something and you get caught up focusing on the problem instead of the answer? 
Guilty!!
We get mired down in our own circumstances and forget to call out to Jesus.
We have all heard the phrase, "Under the Circumstances."  I am going to ask you a question.  What are you doing UNDER the circumstances? 
We are called to be overcomers!
We all know that we, most times, cannot dig ourselves out from under by ourselves.  But the good news is, we don't have to!
Psalm 40:1 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto (listened, found favor towards) me, and heard my cry. 2 - He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my going.  3 - And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:  many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord!
King David had it going on!  How many times do we live in the place where we have no hope?  Why do we choose to stay there?
We have a helper, a strong hold, someone who is inclined to listen to us when we need help out of the miry clay, the pit.
You would think that I am getting a little off topic..but wait there's more.
You see, my point is that my friend and my grandson were in dire circumstance.  One, even though it really would not affect her, if she had taken off running she could have been rounded up and possibly detained.  Jailed even.  But my point was that she didn't hear the warning of "La Migra", she heard "Ice Cream Man."  I gotta tell ya, I love me some ice cream.  It is possibly one of my favorite deserts.  I believe I could eat it morning, noon and night.  If I had been by her and had seen her doing what she did, I probably would have grabbed my purse and ran for the ice cream truck right with her.  Ice Cream Is Good!  She was going for the Good!
And the point with my grandson.  He heard a totally different thing than his siblings.  His response was fabulous!  The others avoided pissy but they didn't get any of the kissy.  Kissy is good.
They both looked for the good.  They ran to it.  They waited for it.  The circumstances could have been something they could have easily gotten under but they looked for the good.
I will take ice cream over jail and kissy over pissy any time of day!
Psalm 100:1 - Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  2 - Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  3 - Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.  4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.  5 -  For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.
Why would I put this passage here you might ask?  Because it reminds us in verse 5 that the Lord is Good!!!
So I am compelling you to look to the good.  Don't live under your circumstances.  Let the Lord, who is Good, who is so inclined to hear you and lift you out of your miry clay do what He says He will do. For the Lord is Good! 
He isn't jail or pissy.  He isn't even ice cream and kisses.  He is so much better.

Sour Grapes

Well, where do I start?
Hmm..
Well, here it is.  I love sour things.  Sometimes the sourer the better.
I love a good sour lemon.  Oh my goodness.  Just biting into that sour lemon with a little salt.  My mouth is watering as I write.  Pucker up buttercup!
I love a good dill pickle.  For me it isn't just any dill pickle.  It has to be a Vlasic Kosher Zesty Dill Pickle.  So good.  Oh so good!
And a grapefruit.  Love a grapefruit.  Just peel it and eat or cut it in half and spoon that luscious juicy fruit right into my mouth. 
I am a happy camper!!  Yes, yes I am.
But, here is the rub.  When I am expecting a bite of food that I have popped into my mouth to be sweet, then that is exactly what I expect, sweet!
I have a go to lunch that I love.  I so enjoy crackers, cheese and grapes.
It is one of the most refreshing lunches that I have.
In the spring and summer it just satisfies like no other.
I love the creaminess of the spreadable cheese that I get, it is a little bitter but it goes so well on my salty cracker.  I spread it's yumminess on my cracker and then I set a big, juicy, sweet grape on top and pop it into my mouth.  The explosion that goes on is so indescribable. 
So today, I am going to have my most awesome lunch.
I am rinsing my grapes off, getting them ready for this culinary delight that I am expecting in my mouth.  I started to pop one in my mouth but I stopped myself.  I wanted to enjoy that first bite just as I was expecting it.
With my table (desk) prepared before me, cheese - check, crackers - check, and plump, juicy grapes - check.
I popped that first bite into my mouth.  Nope!  Imagine my disappointment when the explosion that took place was nothing like I expected.  The grape was so sour.  This couldn't be.
Did I let that stop me from trying another?  No way.  I am an optimist. 
So, cheese, cracker, plump juicy grape, bite!  Sweet!  Nope.  Just as sour as the first one.
Now sometimes I think brilliant things.  Out of desperation I say to myself, "Self, keep on eating them.  Who knows, maybe there will be some sweet ones."
Now just so you know, that was not the brilliant part of me that said that.  The brilliant me, who happens to be very observant, spoke words of wisdom to desperate me.  "Desperation, umm.. just so you know, all of those grapes are coming off of the same vine.  They are all sour."
Brilliant huh?
Did I let that stop me from eating them?  No.  Desperate or not I was hungry.  And I like sour but it just was not what I was expecting.  Did it satisfy?  No, not even a little.  All it did was let my stomach know it had food in it.
As I was eating though my mind went to who we are as people.
Right now there is a commercial that has a few singers/wrappers letting us know "You can't judge a book by it's cover."
Oh how true that is.
I looked at the grapes.  To look at them you would not be able to tell one from the other.  You would not be able to pick out a sweet one from a sour one.  I've had sweet ones.  They look just like the ones I'm eating. 
That got me to thinking.  What about Christians, or so called Christians?
I go to church.  Not perfect, just forgiven.  I call myself a Christian.  I know that there have been so many times I have fallen, failed, got back up.  Got my heart back in right relationship, only to have it happen again, and again. 
But with each step I take with Jesus I realize that I am beginning to produce fruit.  Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches.  That people will know us by our fruit.  That the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
I know that if I am not careful that I am so capable of producing par fruit.
I so do not want to do that.  I want people to know that I am connected to the vine.  I want the fruit that I produce to be authentic.  I want the love that flows from me and through me to be the Love of God flowing through me and poured out.  I want joy!  His joy!  The joy so unspeakable that it is full of His glory!  I want peace..one of my favorite things.  There is nothing like peace, sweet Jesus peace.  Peace that passes all understanding.  It brings the calm to the storm.  I want to have peace that calms storms in peoples hearts.  Patience, one that I am still practicing.  But I want that patience that God shows me.  I want to be able to wait for that understanding that patience brings.  I want to be able to say I was patient enough to witness that a-ha moment when someone realizes their need for a deeper, closer walk with God.  I want kindness to flow through me.  I meet so many kinds people.  But I sometimes find myself judging people and maybe not wanting to be kind to them because I don't think they are worthy.  Who am I to think that?  I who am so unworthy of His kindness yet He shows it to me every day!  Goodness, I want His goodness to flow through me and spill out onto every one that I meet!  Faithfulness.  I want to be called faithful.  I want that to be the fruit that Jesus calls me.  Faithful.  Gentleness.  How can you produce gentleness?  What is the opposite of gentleness?  I think of the opposite of gentleness as a tornado.  I have been the tornado.  Nothing comes from a tornado.  But gentleness, awe, gentleness.  The tender care of a new mother to her newborn babe.  That is the fruit that I want.  I don't want to be so destructive that I tear down what God is trying to build up.  And self control.  That one is a hard task.  But self control is something that can be done, if you are part of the vine.
All of that fruit is sweet.  It is all encompassing too.  It doesn't say the Fruits of the Spirit, it says the Fruit of the Spirit. As if it is one all put together conglomerate of Holy Spirit Fruit.
I think a lot of times as Christians we think we can fake it till we make it.
NO! 
Be authentic!  We are not perfect.  We walk out our own salvation.   What He is working on and how He is working on you is different for all of us.  We are called to walk and produce fruit.
There is one thing that I think we have to do to produce the best fruit that we can and that is to put Ephesians 4:31-32 into practice.
31 - Let ALL bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 - And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So, to sum up, be producers of The Fruit of the Spirit, not sour grapes. 

Is That Your Final Answer?

Is That Your Final Answer?

Well, it has been a while.  Doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, just busy and lazy.
Most of you have heard of the game "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". 
Pretty fairly played game.  You are asked a question and given multiple choice answers.  You make your choice and then you are asked, "Is that your final answer?"  The contestant usually responds, "Final Answer!"
If you guessed correctly or knew the answer you won money and moved on to the next question.  At some point in the game you might be asked a question that you are not too sure about so you are offered life lines.  You can ask the audience for help, you can phone a friend or ask a friend for help.  You can even eliminate two of the wrong answers to help your odds.  Not sure that too many of them have ever made it to the top. 
I was thinking of this game and how it is so appropriate in todays life happenings.
We are living in a hurting world.  People are going through things that we have never seen before.
Yes, there has always been hurting people, but it seems to me that they are in over and abundance these days. 
The world as a whole seems to be turned upside down in so many ways.  White is black, up is down, right is wrong.  No one seems to know the correct answers to any of the questions.
We have young people who are being told that it is okay if you don't think you are a boy or a girl, we have an answer for that.
We have people that are dead inside.  They are facing depression and anxiety and what seems to be insurmountable emotional problems.  Doctors say, that is okay, we have an answer for that.
Husbands and wives that believe they have fallen out of love with each other for what ever reason.  The Lawyers say, that's okay, we have an answer for that.
So many people that are hurting and don't seem to have the answer.  They think they do.  Bad marriage, get a divorce.  Don't like your gender, get a different one.  Don't like anxiety, take a pill. 
I know with the last one I am truly going to have people that think I don't believe in medicine.  That could not be further from the truth.  What I am saying is that it is not always the answer.  When it comes to divorce, I am not saying that is not always the answer.  When it comes to gender dysphoria, surgery is never the answer.
My point that I am trying to make is that we think we have the answers to all the questions.  Truth be known there is one final answer.  Jesus!
Jesus is the final answer!
Because you see, no matter what you are facing, what pain you are going through, Jesus is the answer.
So many of us do not want that to be the answer. 
If Jesus is the answer, it most always will call on you to lay down all the other answers.
It will call you into commitment.  You won't be able to rely on all the other answers that are out there.
I would never tell a woman, or even a man, to stay in a marriage that was totally destructive to or someone was being physically hurt.  But for that man or woman who is looking at the other one and says, "I just am not in love with this person anymore.  I don't feel like I did when we first got married.  They just don't do it for me anymore."  Well, Jesus is the answer.  He has the power to heal marriages.  He has the power to restore love and put back broken pieces.  He should be the first answer.  It will call you to turn off the porn on the computer.  It will call you to quit flirting, just to see if you still have it.  It will call you to praying for each other and lifting each other up.  It will call you to a commitment to putting Jesus first in your marriage.
Ask someone who got a divorce that has children and the struggle of letting them go every week or weekend.  The bitterness that lingers.  It isn't better.  Jesus was the answer.
The final answer.
You are anxious and depressed.  Jesus is the answer.  His Word, the Bible, tells us.  Be anxious for nothing.  I do believe that some people have medical reasons for taking medication for emotional problems but I also believe even more strongly that most people turn there first.  Because even though you may be on medications, for emotional pain or physical pain, it doesn't matter, you will not realize that you need to have Jesus first and that He is the healer.  Too many people get hooked on these drugs and their lives and the lives of those that love them are all affected.  Too many of us are dying from overdoses and looking for that next fix.  Seeking an answer for pain that never ceases.  Jesus is the answer.
The final answer.
Don't be fooled!  It isn't just people that don't have a relationship with Jesus that go through these things.  Everybody!!! I mean EVERYBODY faces trials and situations in our lives that we would just as soon not face.
Bad marriages, anxiety, depression, sicknesses, money problems, job loss, job problems, family issues, parents that won't listen, teenagers that have a mind of their own, etc...
And we HAVE the answer.  But like the game, we think sometimes it is multiple choice.  It is not!
Jesus is the answer.  The first answer, the second answer, the third answer..the final answer.
But we forget and start looking for answers instead of taking it to the cross.
If we could but remember at the onset of these issues that arise to go immediately to the Lord, to Jesus. 
Matthew 11 - Jesus tell us to come unto Him, all you who are weary, anxious, troubled, I will give you rest.  He wants to be yoked together with you.  He is telling you He is the answer.
Psalm 55:22 - Cast your burden on the Lord and HE will sustain you.. 
1st Peter 5:7 - Cast all your cares on Him (Jesus), for He cares for you.
Several years ago Andre Crouch had a song out that said, "Jesus is the answer for the world today.  Above Him there's no other.  Jesus is the way."
That has always been the truth. 
There is nothing that you are going through or facing that Jesus is not the answer.
Jesus is the answer!
Jesus is the first answer!
Jesus is the final answer!