Fireworks

• Yes, I believe that we are to honor God-given authority in our lives (including the government placed over us), but at what point does that respect over step its bounds and supplant the reverence that I have for Christ and His Kingdom? 
  
• Though I enjoy the freedoms we have in this country, I also see over the course of history that the church grows through persecution and becomes complacent through times of comfort and ease.  Consequently, do I continue to pray for religious freedom, or do I pray for Christ's church in America (and my own spiritual walk) to be sifted like wheat in order to grow and further honor God? 
  
• Sometimes I get the feeling that since we are a "Christian nation", we believe that God favors our nation above others, and is "on our side".  How do we maintain a sense of patriotism and still guard against this dangerous assumption?
• Do we "celebrate" and enjoy our country simply because it is the land of opportunity?  Are we (am I) living the American dream and forgetting that God did not call us to lives of ease and comfort?  Are we clinging to our excess possessions, or do we hold with an open hand our material comforts and lifestyles of luxury?  (Derek Webb's song "Rich Young Ruler" from his album "Mockingbird" has been a big challenge to me on this subject.)
  

there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

a thousand burning bushes

A wise and seasoned mentor of mine told me this week, "God has you in this place right now to teach you to trust Him completely.  As I look back at my life, I can see that you are in a perfect position to learn this lesson."  Though I knew she was right, I was humbled.  Haven't I already learned that?  I mean, isn't that the first lesson you learn on this journey of life with Christ?  Aren't "have faith" and "trust God" cliches I heard over and over again in my junior high girls' Bible classes?  What I am doing here some 14 years later trying to grasp this same subject? 

Do you ever wonder why anyone struggles with faith when proof of God is all around?  Or why we beg God for a sign when He's given us His Word?  Or why I'm sitting here like a cry baby, so upset that not everything in life is going my way - when God has blessed me with more than I could ever ask or even imagine? 

Andy Gullahorn, on his new CD "Room to Breathe", says all of this much better than I:

I’ve never seen a dead man come to life

or seen a blind man get his sight.

I’ve never seen water turned to wine.

It isn’t that I don’t believe

but it would be easier for me

if you would just send down a sign.

I remember the childlike innocence.

A faith with no coincidence.

The world around was living proof.

Has that world just disappeared

or is it me that isn’t clear

how to recognize its you.

I’m praying for a miracle

to let me know you’re listening.

Waiting for a lightning bolt to strike.

Walking through a garden of a thousand burning bushes

looking up to heaven for a sign.

I walk through the water and the waves

looking for a drop of rain

but you’re still not coming through.

Maybe its new eyes that I need

or maybe it takes more faith to see

I’m drowning in the truth.

I love reading Trent's blog (a friend from Moody), where I found this link.  According to an article from Fox News, Jesus Christ could be named the honorary king of Poland.  Evidently the King of the Universe is in need of a vote. 

The first passage of scripture that came to mind when I read this article was Colossians 1:15-20, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.  For in Him all the fullness of God  was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."

Currently Listening James Taylor at Christmas By James Taylor see related

Tonight, with the soft sounds of Christmas music in the background, I made Christmas cookies with my handsome, ludic husband.  Sigh.  I love this time of year.