We bow down

Many of you know how I feel about Halloween. Our kids have never dressed up and gone trick or treating. My reasoning is simple. God and the spiritual world is so real to us. Likewise, the things of Satan are just as real. The word of God says that Satan comes ONLY to kill, steal and destroy. That being said, anything that the world does to make Satan seem harmless, powerless or fun is not for me. I know some people just brush it off and say, "well, we don't celebrate Satan at Halloween...it's just a fun day for the kids." To me, if we are not lifting up Jesus, then we are lifting something else up. And I haven't found anything at Halloween that lifts up Jesus at all.

I say all that because a funny thing keeps happening. Now that we live in a development again, we, of course, have neighbors. And being that it is approaching Halloween (well, not really, I mean it's still September, but anyway) the neighbors have started to decorate their houses. We only have one house next to us (we live on a corner lot). The wife is the manager at Home Depot, and the husband is the manager at Toys-R-Us...so you can imagine what kind of decorations they have access to. There is this one flag that they have that faces our house. It's your typical "BOO" flag with a ghost, jack-o-lantern, and a witch on it. When I walk out of our front door and head to the driveway, it's the first thing I see. But for the past few days, when I go out to take the kids to school in the morning, I look over and the flag has flipped up onto the roof and you can't see it.  It has been that way several times. Today, when I saw it, I was reminded of a fantastic passage from the Bible. It's found in 1 Samuel chapter 5. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Samuel+5&version=NIV "if you want to read the chapter in it's entirety)

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After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.  That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

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Here's the gist of the passage.Basically, the Philistines were enemies of God and the Israelites..the people of God. The Philistines worshipped many gods. During a battle described in Chapter 4, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. This was a special "box" for lack of a better word, where the Spirit of God dwelt. It was sacred...holy...and it was supposed to be in the camp of the Israelites. So the Philistines decided to hide the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning when they went into the temple, the statue of Dagon had fallen down in front of the Ark. So, they stood the statue back up on its feet. The following morning, they went into the temple of Dagon again, and this time, the statue had not only fallen down before the Ark, but it's head and hands were broken off. How awesome is that!! Even the pagan idol had no choice but to fall before the presence of God! The Philistines knew they were in trouble, and even in their ungodly state, they knew that the presence of God was real and powerful. It was impossible to house the presence of the One True God with any other gods without serious repercussions. So they eventually gave the Ark of the Covenant back to the Israelites.

I retold this whole story to make this one point. One day, the whole world is going to bow to God. Willingly or by force, everyone and everything will bow.  Romans 14:11-12 says,

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

So, when I saw my neighbor's flag turned upside down on their roof, I was reminded that even Satan and all that he represents will one day bow to the Almighty God. But it also got me thinking about what it is that I bow to, other than God. What are the things that I hold in such a regard that it takes the place of God in my life? We all have things that we worship, even if we don't consider it that. According to Merriam-Webster, the word worship is defined as the obvious..."reverence offered to a divine being or supernatural power", but it is also defined as ": extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem, as in worship of the dollar". Anything that we put our faith in can become an idol if we are not careful. Things that are good, if not kept in check, can become idols in our life. My husband calls me the computer queen, and he chuckles as he says it, but I know that he has a real point. Sometimes I spend so much time on the computer that it becomes an addiction. I have to balance my life, and keep God at the center. Otherwise, everything else will spin out of control. Personal convictions, good things that we are passionate about, can become idols if we allow them to consume us and take our main focus away from God. Every day, we are going to bow to someone or something. My prayer is that when that happens, that I am bowing to the One who is worthy, and not wasting my time on temporal things that will soon all be seen for what they really are. And one day, we will all bow once and for all to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus! This world is just a practice, a rehearsal for eternity. If we rehearse daily, our worship will not be something odd or foreign. Instead, it will be like second nature when we step into heaven, all because we have chosen to truly worship the living God here on earth in this present lifetime.

My sweet Lily turned 1 on Monday. I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Here's some pictures of her little party that we had here with just our family. After her cake, the sugar made her CRAZY...glad it's not a daily intake for her! She has been a blessing to our family. The Lord has given her such a happy disposition, and she brings smiles out of everyone she meets. Her Nani and Papa sent her some pretty clothes, and toys. She LOVES anything that makes music, and claps instantaneously when she hears it. (Good choice, Nani!) It has been so nice to be home with Lily...it is not without it's sacrifices, but she is worth every one and more!

Josh had his first soccer game tonight. He is on the U10 team (under 10) which means that all the players are 8 and 9 years old. Josh is the very youngest. This is his first time playing on a full sized field, with full sized goals. The park here in Belton is really nice, and since they play on weeknights, they get to play under the lights, which Josh thinks is pretty cool. Being the youngest on his team hasn't slowed him down one bit. Tonight's game was a shut out...we won something like 12-0. Josh scored 3 of the 12 goals! Halfway through the game, Josh got kicked in the foot. It blew a hole right in his cleats. Granted these cleats have been used for two seasons now, and I believe they were used for a season or two by his cousin Matt, too. But even though Josh had a GAPING hole, which exposed his blue sock, he kept on going, scoring the second and third of his goals with basically half a cleat. Too bad we didn't have any duct tape in the car...Josh would have been MORTIFIED! Great first game! Jonathan plays tomorrow night. Hope we don't have any more cleat blow outs!

Bread...of life

I opened the cabinet today, and discovered that I had some yeast that I had bought a while ago but never used. I decide to, once again, TRY to make some homemade bread. I say TRY, because I have never successfully made bread from scratch. (My bread maker that I used to have doesn't count!). I found a simple recipe from a blogger that I frequently read, and started to prepare my yeast. I followed the recipe pretty well, and put my dough to rest. It didn't rise...same as usual. So I made some flour tortillas out of that batch and some funny looking donuts with cinnamon and sugar. (haha). A little disappointed, I went back to the recipe. I carefully reread the instructions. I had used milk and sugar to prepare my yeast, but I think the milk was too hot, and killed my yeast all together. I didn't realize that you could kill yeast. I kept reading. "Knead for ten minutes"....hmm....I probably kneaded for about three minutes.  I wondered if that made a difference. So I looked up online about yeast (probably should have done that first) and I learned about gluten and the importance of kneading.I definitely went wrong there. So, I rolled up my sleeves, and I started all over gain. I measured out the milk, warmed it just right. Added sugar and the yeast and set the timer for exactly ten minutes. When that was done, I followed the recipe word for word. When it came time to knead, I set my timer for ten minutes. I started to knead on the same floured board that I had used earlier but because it still had small pieces of the other dough on it, my new dough kept sticking. So I turned it over to the spotless side, floured it and started kneading. At first it seemed as though the dough looked and felt exactly the same. I kept kneading, and kneading. My arms were exhausted. I kept going. Suddenly, the dough started to change. It was becoming more pliable. It wasn't sticking at all. The texture of the bread changed completely.It was really amazing to see. I know I have never kneaded bread for that long before because I have never seen it change like that. As my last minute counted down, I started to think about what I was doing. I started to think about how the bread represented something very valuable.

The clean cutting board represented a life when you give it to Jesus. Clean slate, new beginning, and things old are passed away. Adding the ingredients correctly represents being obedient to the Lord. Following His direction, His ways, His path. The kneading represents the hand and timing of God. Sometimes God has to knead us for a long time. Sometimes we are thick and hard headed, and we need the firm pressure of the Father to work out some of the places in our lives that are not conformed to His word. With firm touch, we are molded and transformed into a new creation. Clay in the potter's hand.

Well, here's my finished loaf-it rose! Next time, I need to use a bigger pan! I bet, when you make bread next time, you'll never see it as only bread again! =)