Hang on baby!

During the morning ride on the bus, I happened to glance to the window and saw a little spider hanging by his little thread. I didn't give it much thought, as I do not care for the company of spiders and the ichy bites they give. Then the bus started driving away from the depot. I saw the little spider getting a ride of his life. He kept swinging back and forth to the point were I was waiting for his thread to break and his life would be over. We kept building up speed and I continued to watch and even got to the point, "you can do it!" The bus came to a stop to pick up the last of the people before the long drive to Vancouver. My little spider friend had made it and quickly took the moment to make his way to safety in the window ledge.

It got me thinking about how we are sometimes on the ride of our lives and we are waiting for things to slow down to where we can retreat to safety. Sometimes things never really slow down, we just get use to the bumps and we go on. Living as a Christian in today's world is much like this. We forget that just because we follow Jesus, that our life should be a cake walk, simple and sweet. I think it is a cake walk, but maybe not in those terms. Let me explain.

In elementary school, we had events called cake walks. I believe they still occur at various functions at churches and community centers. You would pay your quarter and walk in a pre-made circle made up with numbered squares. The music would play and you would be having a great time, then it all changes. The music ends and you stop on a square. They would then draw a number from a hat and you would cross your fingers, as they call the winning number you glance to see if it could possibly be you. If you were the winner they brought you a yummy cake as a prize, everyone else got zilch. I played and played until I had no more quarters, and yet I never got a cake. I played by the rules, I didn't cheat or push, yet I was never rewarded with a big cake of my own.

Life as a Christian could be summed up that way. We don't always get the worldly rewards, and sometimes it feels as if we go in circles forever. We watch those play the game by not playing fair and they win and we feel cheated and confused. We might stop to help a friend who has fallen, only to see that they might win since we helped them. How is this fair? That is our calling, we knew the the Bible states that following Christ would not be easy, but sharing the good news so that others can find the truth is our mission.

Think about the deeper side of this. We need to follow the rules in life, they make the walk easier. We were promised by God that we would be rewarded with Heaven and eternal life with Him. By being a follower of Christ, I know that at the end of my journey, there will be a giant cake, more delicious than anything in this world. The best part is, we all have one waiting for us if you chose to walk towards it!!!

In conclusion, I realized today that being patience is key, be like the spider who never gave up, we need to hold on during the rough spots in life. That doing things the right way is best, even though we may not always get rewarded at the time. Lastly, and most importantly, God is gonna have the best chocolate cake!

Goin' Through the Motions

Life is a funny thing isn't it. You expect it to go one way but that is never the case. Hee, I think God must be watching somtimes and going, "man, your slow to catching on to my master plan." I was having one of those "why aren't we at this point yet" moments last night. Please don't take me for being self-centered and greedy, because you know we all do this....maybe it was the rain. Anyhoo, the good husband Ken talked me out of my moment of "duh" and we had a lovely evening. We are busy working on a new venture in the way of our art, once I have more to share I will.

Back to my title.... I have been backtracking into the classic 80's christian music library. I came across a song that really was something important to me as a teen. I had the lyrics taped in my locker at school for just about the whole 5 years i was there. Its funny how somethings still speak to you, even years later. I had to quicky pop in the tape and take myself back to that time of confusion but clarity of what was truely important. I really needed that!

Here are the lyrics:

Actions have been justified
All is compromised
Looking for approval there
In someone else's eyes, oh
Dodging all you really are
Becomes your greatest task
Acting out your lonely part
You hide behind your mask

Bridge:

Never true to yourself
Knowing well this is not like you
Fooling yourself
You're just living a lie

Chorus:

Goin, goin, Goin, thru the motions

Victim of the circumstance
Prisoner of the shame
But it's the double standard life
That keeps you in the game
Taken by your own disguise
But when it's wearing thin
You'll do anything it takes
To impress your friends

Bridge:

Never true to yourself
This is not what you want to be
Fooling yourself
You're just living lie

Well, I'm glad that song still makes me think. With all the changes that happen from being a child to becoming an adult, its good to go back and revisit old feelings. The rain has brought the changing of the season, soon Fall will be here....then Winter. A new year and a year older. Wow, I know its dorky, but 26 will be a big year...more on that later.

Steven Curtis Chapman - The Great Adventure

Saddle up your horses

Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last
I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go"!

Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure

Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for

We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams
Yeah... oh saddle up your horses... come on get ready to ride


Ok, here it is... the first of I'm sure many posts about my life. I thought I'd start off this thing with the lyrics to this song by Steven Curtis Chapman. It was a song that use to really make me want to get up in the morning and discover the world.

I'm ready to embark on a new journey, one I want to document. Before I get more into that, I plan on giving some of the back story of how I got to this point. Woohoo, life is the great adventure!