John 4:19-26

"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on the tis mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming-indeed it's here now- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

back to school

Well, fall break is over. Bummer! I was really enjoying just hanging out with my family and getting some things done around here that have been getting neglected.

So, today I got up and got ready to go to class. Remember when I told you about all the papers and tests and stuff that I had to do in advance, in order to go out of town? Well, today I had to try and remember everything that I had done, so that I could check with my professors to make sure that I got my grades, and didn't miss doing anything. So all day long, I went to class, feeling like I forgot something. You ever get that feeling? I mostly get it when I'm trying to get out of the house, running late for something, and know that there are like four things that I'm supposed to have with me. I always feel like I'm forgetting something!

Anyway, today made me think about, once again, priorities. I had a long talk with Erik yesterday, just about some personal things. He and I are accountability partners (along with Shawn), and we were just doing our normal, "how you doing?" thing. But, there was an issue that came up that dealt with priorities. I won't go into details, but it directly relates to where we're spending our time and resources. This is something that I'm really having to repent of. For the longest time, I've stayed out of certain things in life. For instance, I leave taking care of all of the bills and budget and money things, like making sure the check book is balanced, up to Tiffany. I mean, why not! This is what she does for a living. She is the executive director of a multi-million dollar company (meaning, she deals with million dollar budgets every day). So why not just let her do it? She's good at it. I'm not, nor am I particularly interested in it. But here's the thing.

There is no way I can be the spiritual leader of my household, if I have no idea what's going on with something as important as our family finances. I'm not saying that I'm going to jump in there and start changing things, cause that's just going to lead to something that Dave Ramsey would have a massive coronary over! But I am going to show her that I care about every aspect of our family, and that I don't expect her to have to do something without my support and willingness to be involved. Fellas, I know that if you look hard enough, you'll find an area in your life like this. Ask God to reveal it to you. If your desire is to be obedient, faithful, and God's man for your family, then you need to be shown these areas and do something about them. It may be that you just have an issue watching your kids for two hours so that your wife can go the movies with some friends, or doing the dishes cause she needs help around the house. Whatever the case may be, Christ said to love your wife like He loves the Church. I cannot see how that means anything less than complete and total sacrifice on her behalf. And if you're not willing to do it, then you have a pride issue. And that's something that will come back and bite you in the you know what! I'm talking to myself as much as any of you. It's pride that has kept me from thinking that I didn't need to be involved in things like this in my family.

Proverbs says: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. And it also says: Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Blessings!

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