Tamera, how do you find time to connect with God?

Discipline. Plain and simple. If I don’t schedule time to connect with God (formally, in Bible study and prayer), it doesn’t happen. Unless I’m in extreme pain in some area of my life, and then I seem to crave His Word and crave the comfort of being cradled like a child in my Father’s lap as I listen to Him speak.

I wish I could say that I constantly desire His Word above all else, and that I never seek to fill the void inside of me with anything else, but that’s just not the case. Yet, every day I renew my commitment to be closer to Him and ask Him to draw me closer, to make me more like Christ than I am, and to give me more of His vision for my life.

I’m reading the Bible through this year with some writer friends and that kind of accountability works well for me too. I love accountability—except when I’m not living an accountable life. But I’m old enough to realize that that’s when I need it most of all, so welcome it with open arms. Knowing your weaknesses is part of knowing your strengths.

Read more of this interview with author Tamera Alexander at cbReviews for Christian Bookworms.

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Surfing the net last night, I came across Blog Action Day. I think it’s a great concept and will plan to participate.

To register, visit Blog Action Day and follow the updates on Twitter.

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I’m Not Crazy, But I Might be a Carrier
by Charles Marshall
Kregel Publications (April 17, 2008)

Charles Marshall began his career onstage as a singer/songwriter. When his singing voice gave out, he turned to stand-up comedy and was much more successful. He is now a nationally syndicated Christian humor columnist and has contributed to Focus on the Family magazine. He is the author of Shattering the Glass Slipper: Destroying Fairy Tale Thinking Before It Destroys You and has filmed two stand-up comedy videos, I’m Just Sayin’ and Fully Animated.

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Chapter 1

Going to the Dogs

My wife and I have been thinking about getting a dog, lately, and discussing what type we might get. For me, there is really only one possibility—and that, of course, is a real dog.

For the uninitiated, there are three basic types of dogs:

1] Real dogs. These are dogs as God originally made them—monstrous, made-for-the-outdoors hunting machines that are perfect for intimidating neighbors and attracting lawsuits.

The ownership rule for guys and dogs is simple: the bigger the dog, the cooler you look. Walk down the street with a Pekingese and you might as well be wearing a tutu.

When you observe a man walking down the street with a massive real-dog, his message to you is clear. “Yes, I’m overcompensating for my insecurities and lack of masculinity but I’ve got a really big dog.”

Now that’s the kind of attitude I can get behind.

2] Mutant rat-dogs, otherwise known as Chihuahuas. These poor creatures are the unintentional result of secret experiments conducted by the Mexican army in a failed attempt to create the ultimate weapon by cross-breeding bats and Great Danes. The only surviving result of these experiments is a group of nervous, angry little rat-dogs that decided to take their revenge on humanity by being annoying on just about every level known to mankind.

If you are approached by one of these aberrations of nature, know that it despises you with a hatred rarely seen outside the Middle East, and that it won’t hesitate to tear your ankles to shreds. These dogs are the piranhas of the canine world and would nuke

mankind tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it. Under no circumstance should one of these animals be allowed to run for public office.

3] Kitty-dogs, which is every kind of dog that does not fall into one of the first two categories. I’m all in favor of this type of dog because, hey, girls have to have dogs, too.

The curse of the kitty-dog is that there are those who take a warped delight in dressing them up like people. Most dogs would rather be subjected to Mexican weapons experiments than go through this type of torture.

I cannot say this in strong enough terms: You should never, ever dress up your dog for any reason whatsoever. Take it from me—even if it were thirty below outside, your dog would rather die with dignity in his own fur coat than live while being seen in a little poochie parka.

If you dress your dog, you need to know two things:

1] The rest of us are making fun of you behind your back.

2] Every day your dog prays for a heaven where he gets to dress you up in humiliating costumes while he and his doggie friends point at you and laugh for all eternity.

If you feel you absolutely must dress an animal, go dress one that at least has a chance of defending itself like a cougar or a wolverine or a Chihuahua.

One of the most amazing things about the three dog types is that for every one of them, there is someone that likes that kind of dog. At this very moment, there are people risking the loss of fingers and eyes while they stroke their vicious little rat-dogs, all for the sake of love.

That’s a mysterious kind of love, isn’t it—the kind that embraces the unlovely, that sees through the imperfect and loves without regard?

Let’s face it, the human heart isn’t very attractive either. Every thought we have is consumed with self. If you peel away the layers of even our most noble deeds and acts of kindness, you will find thoughts that circle back to ourselves like homing pigeons. In our hearts, we are all mutant rat-dogs.

And yet God loves us.

In the Bible, you find that same theme of an indefatigable, undefeatable love reaching out to a vicious, ungrateful humanity over and over again. I’ve found it’s a love well worth pursuing.

And so the great dog debate rages in my household, and I think my wife is coming around to my point of view. But, if by chance, you happen to see me in the neighborhood walking a Pekingese that is wearing a teeny hat and sundress, you may safely assume things did not go my way.

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For me, communing with God is an all-day, ongoing experience. I don’t set aside specific prayer time, other than when I’m doing devotions or when I get that nudge to pray for someone specifically. My relationship is a solid one, where I share everything with Him and try to seek His wisdom for every decision. I don’t always succeed, but I do my best. There is a lot of room for improvement too.

Read the rest of this interview on cbReviews

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 This devotion was originally written in 2000 and entitled “All About Me”. It’s been modified to reflect my thoughts now as more mature Christian. At least that’s my prayer. If you like it stop by and leave a comment. Share your thoughts.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:1-2 NIV

There was a time I thought I was Ms. Goody-Two Shoes. You know my good outweighs my bad, so I’m okay. Not like other folks. This same condescending attitude kept me from accepting God in my life for years.

I believed in "the man upstairs", but I did my own thing, not comprehending there was a greater purpose outside my little world. As life goes, frustration and anger settled into my being and I started to wonder, wasn’t there more to life than this?

It took a serious choice to move beyond the "all about me" attitude.  Now with maturity, my deepest desire is to reflect the character of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not mine which is flawed and quite quirky. Despite my high ideals, I’m still a work in progress, pressing forward to this higher calling. My mission in life is to grow and encourage growth in others.

"Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 NIV

Recently, while perusing Books-A-Million, one particular title caught my eye.

I’m Fine with God…It’s Christians I Can’t Stand

My first inclination was to laugh, but then I started thinking as I checked out the back of the book, how much of my own hurt and pain stemmed from people who confess to being followers of Christ. Pondering a little deeper, then I had to admit to being a carrying card member myself. I certainly don’t always walk the walk. 

People are people.

Christians are sinners saved by grace. No such thing as perfection. Not on this side with the living.

Have you ever considered how Christians stunt the growth of others? 

In this country alone, I cringe when I see what people really think about Christianity. It’s sad. In fact, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons release a book last year called unChristian. Here’s a brief description:

“The New Testament writer Paul told the first-century Christians: "You yourselves are our letter . . . known and read by everybody." When a person "reads" your life, what does it say? What does your faith look like to outsiders? A major new research project, unveiled for the first time in this book, describes the increasingly negative reputation of Christians, especially among young Americans. The research shows that Christians are best known for what they are against.”

Makes you ponder doesn’t it? At least I did.

A long time ago, it occurred to me that Christian can have two types of attitudes. There isn’t a middle ground – you are either hot or cold  according to Revelation 3:15.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. Luke 10:30-33 NIV

Let’s examine the passage a little further and see if you follow me on these two types of attitudes.

ATTITUDE 1

It’s a known fact that good is always in conflict with evil.  Satan is the prince of this world. There isn’t really any truth to "the devil made me do it," but there is truth in the fact that people fall into the same predicament that got the highest and most beautiful angel booted out of heaven (Luke 10:18, Revelations 12:7-9).

P – R – I – D - E

Pride will lead people to have the "Me, Me, Me", "It’s All About Me", or the "I Don’t Have Time" attitude like those two self-righteous religious men. If we get caught up in ourselves, we may PASS BY God’s opportunities for us. Our hearts will become hardened as we try to fill those lost opportunities with material possessions, unhealthy relationships and other items of the world. If those "religious" men were really about God’s work, God’s compassion would have been evident in their characters.

ATTITUDE 2

On the other hand, we can have an attitude like the Samaritan. A Samaritan was an outsider to the Jews. There is an awesome story in the Gospels where Jesus purposely traveled through Samaria, which was absolutely forbidden by most Jews. The Woman at the Well is one of my favorite stories and it can be read in John 4.

The Samaritan definitely had things to do, but he chose to stop and not PASS BY a child of God.

Did you notice I underlined, bolded and italicized that?

Child of God

All of us have a part in God’s ultimate purpose. Before Jesus went to the cross, he taught his disciples some valuable lessons about service. Wherever you may be in your life journey right now, take some time and think about how can God use you? How has he used you? It always leads back to a greater purpose.

Please if you are a believer in Christ (I’m talking to myself here too), don’t get caught up in the what I see as the westernized version of Christianity.  If you aren’t quite sure you get all this Christian stuff, don’t give up.

Spend some time in the Gospels, New Testament epistles and don’t forget to explore the Old Testament. 

Pray. Can’t stress enough the humbling factor of spending time in God’s presence.

It will change your perspective.

It’s not about US at all.

It’s all about God.

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This had me cracking up! Had to share.

Check out more of Michael, Jr’s videos at Godtube.com.

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Kesha, how do you find time to connect with God?

Connecting with God comes on natural assignment.  I talk to Him all throughout the day.  I have a bible in the house as well as my car.  I make sure I read a scripture before starting my day, mostly out of Proverbs and we say our morning prayer.

Read the rest of this interview on Written Voices

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