Sugar and Spice

With the birth of each child, our family has become new. Each has brought a special flavor to the Parra mix. Lily is definitely sugar...with a touch of spice. She has a sweetness about her. At any given moment, she will make her rounds, giving hugs and kisses, just because. We played hide and seek in the yard yesterday, and Lily chased the boys with arms wide open, squeezing her captives tight with lots of love. She has a smile that melts you and a giggle that is contagious. If I have music on or she is watching Miss Patty Cake on TV, you will almost always find her dancing and twirling to the tunes. But along with all that sweetness, there's a bit of spice mixed in. She can go from sweet to sour in 0.5 seconds flat. I'd like to think she gets her sweetness from me, and her spice from Dad...haha...but the truth is that even my sweet Lily has an old nature, one we are all born with, one that we must allow the Lord to break in us. I am thankful for both the sugar and the spice, because it reminds me that the joy of the Lord is our strength, and also that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

On the Offense

Day 3 since I have completely lost my senses...haha. Still can't smell or taste a thing.  Yesterday, out of habit, I put ketchup on my eggs, and french vanilla in my coffee. Why? Last night, while I dipped my flavorless fish sticks in tasteless ketchup, I had an epiphany. What a waste to eat something that has no flavor. Today, I drank my coffee black, and the only reason I had coffee was so the warmth might break up my sinuses and soothe my sore throat. I could have easily drank hot water, and it would have tasted exactly the same. This morning, I examined my foolish, flavorless food consumption and thought, How many times do we do things out of habit, and get no satisfaction from it? How many times have we just put up with the same old stuff because it's what we know, what we are comfortable with, what we have done all our lives? What a waste of effort, time, and, in this case, calories! So, after looking at my situation with different eyes, I decided it's a perfect time to stick it to the devil and have a day of prayer and fasting. I am praying for healing of my family and extended family, that He orders our every step, and for new senses, both physical and spiritual. Matthew 5:13 says, "We are the salt of the earth." How awful it is when something that is meant to have salt, doesn't. I ate a bag of chips yesterday in hopes that maybe the extreme saltiness would come through, even a small bit, but it didn't. I craved flavor, and tasted nothing. We were created to crave the things of God. In fact, everyone has felt the pangs of hunger inside of them and many don't realize what they are truly yearning for is God. The devil, who was once an angel in the presence of the Lord, has felt this hunger, for all of creation experiences it. Our deep desire is to be satisfied in a real way. The enemy of our soul has placed things in the world to attempt to satisfy that craving with everything else but God. Many are full, yet, few are satisfied.


We, as Christians, are called to bring out the flavor of God in all that we do, and we should make others thirsty for Him. We should be able to be used by God to melt an ice cold heart, and heal the wounds of the afflicted. Salt by itself, is undesirable, at best. Salt that has lost it's saltiness is worthless. Salt is meant to be added to something to change and transform that thing which it touches. Knowing what salt does, has no value, unless you actually put it to use. So, the devil can have my bland breakfast, lifeless lunch and drab dinner...I am feasting on the Word so I can become a little more salty...and in the meantime, drinking of the Living Water, and eating the Bread of Life which never disappoints and always satisfies!

Hubs-by Steven Furtick

This was so good, I decided to share it here on my blog. It really spoke to me and all the hubs I have been to in my life. Nothing is ever wasted, God always has a plan.
"The steps of a righteous man are odered by God." Psalm 37:23

Hubs

Thursday March 17th, 2011 – Permalink
Spiritual Growth

When you’re flying through airports, you often have to fly through one city to get to another city. They’re called hubs. Transfer points to get passengers to their intended destination.

So if you want to get to Philly, sometimes you have to go to Atlanta. Even if Atlanta is in the exact opposite direction from Philly and it makes no sense to go there first. It sounds weird and counterintuitive, but it’s just the way it works.

The same is true with God’s will.

I think most people assume that when God reveals to you what He wants you to do with your life, like a genie He quickly and immediately transports you to it. Yet that’s rarely the case. There are very few non-stop flights to God’s will.

I was 16 when I received a vision from God to one day pastor a church. It wasn’t until ten years later that we planted Elevation. In-between those two points were multiple hubs, most of which I would never have scripted out as transfer points to my intended destination. But each was absolutely essential.

For example, I never thought I’d come to plant Elevation by going to Shelby, NC. Don’t feel bad, most people have never heard of it either. But if I hadn’t gone to Shelby, I wouldn’t have met many of the key leaders that got Elevation off the ground and have been so instrumental to its success.

Or even before that, I never thought I’d come to Elevation by going to Tigerville, SC for college. But if I hadn’t gone to Tigerville, I never would have met Holly. And without her, Elevation wouldn’t exist.

I’ve concluded that you can’t script out what God wants to do through your life. You just have to follow it step by step. Everybody wants the ten-year plan. Everybody wants to know the full alphabet of God’s plan for them.

But we don’t like living in each letter.

We love A and B. And we love Y and Z.

But we hate L, M, N, O, P.

We hate the hubs that get us from the place where we first get a hint at God’s will for our lives to the place where it actually comes to fruition. Yet those are some of the most important places we’ll ever go. It’s there that God is preparing us for what He has for us.

God knows how to get you to where He wants you. Even if it doesn’t seem like the most direct route that you’d prefer. And He’s not just wasting your time or playing games with you. There’s a purpose to every hub He takes you to. To the hub you may be in right now.

That includes the school you can’t wait to graduate from.
The relationship you thought would lead to marriage, but then didn’t.
The city you’re living in that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
The job you know you don’t want to be at forever, but where you feel stuck at for now.

Don’t be afraid to go to Atlanta to go to Philly.
God’s going to get you to Philly. And He’s got something for you in Atlanta in the meantime.

Down for the Count

I don't remember the last time I ever had a cold like this one. Our whole family has been really sick. Everyone is taking some form of antibiotic. Jonathan is on his second round, as the first one didn't clear up his ear infection. Luis and I, since we don't have any prescription coverage, opted to buy antibiotics from the Mexican store in Anderson. A little risky, but the way I figure, if I had to put up with this sinus infection for another day, my head was probably going to explode anyhow. I feel like I dove into a pool and got water up my nose. Maybe a better analogy would be if someone stuck two water hoses up my nose and turned the spigot on full blast. Yea, that's sounds more like it. I have lost all sense of smell. so food has absolutely zero taste. (What a waste of calories-maybe it's time to start that diet I've been talking about for the last 10 years.) On a bright note, Lily's diapers are odorless...well, for me anyway. Unfortunately that means I don't know when Lily has a dirty diaper, until she does that "bottom scratching" dance on the carpet. Don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about-your kids have done it too. Yesterday, I got home from an afternoon at the doctor with all three children still alive, a feat in and of itself. I filled Jonathan's new prescription on the way to Josh's baseball practice, which, although he has a cough like a barking dog, I allowed him to attend in a moment of deliriousness on my part, and crocodile tears on his. I am very easily manipulated when I am incoherent. Remind me not to answer the door or the telephone for the next 24-48 hours. I got home from Josh's practice to find Lily waddling in the garage while she straddled her bulgy, soaked diaper, Luis sitting at his workbench trying to fix an engine under the influence of contraband antibiotics and large doses of pain killers, and Jonathan crying on the couch with green slime in his eyes. Instead of putting Luis to death on the spot with my evil laser eyes (which is what I wanted to do), I decided to extend the mercy rule, since he has been just about as sick as I have ever seen him, yet has not missed a day of work. I'm sure he appreciated that I spared his life. I told Jonathan to follow me to the kitchen, and I pulled out the new medicine. His crying went from a few boo-hoos to full blown wails at the sight of some other pink liquid he was going to have to ingest. I know the economy is tight right now, but you think they would always put a little extra medicine in children's prescriptions for those special times when the first dose shoots out of the child's mouth and lands on your shoe. Just a thought. We then went to the bathroom to wipe the radioactive goop from his eyes, and I sent them all to bed without brushing their teeth or taking their showers. Safe to say I am not winning any Stay-at-Home-Mom Emmy this week.


Today, I am beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Jonathan has his appetite back, Lily's nose is running clear, and Luis is finally able to swallow his own spit. If that's not progress, I don't know what is! Jonathan is back to asking me how to spell every word in the universe, and Lily has resumed climbing on everything that is able to be climbed upon. As much as I have needed a little down time lately, this is not the way I wanted it. I'll be glad when my family is up and running at 150% as usual!

Piggy Back Rides

I used to love a piggy back ride when I was a kid, and my kids do too. It's a hug and a free lift, all in one. But, you have to admit it is the ultimate in laziness, and a bit risky as well, because if the one you're riding on falls, you're going down with them.


I've lingered in the book of John for the last week. I love how the Bible comes to life, and brings new meaning, even after reading the same passages time and time again. I read John 7 and John 8 (you can click on it to read it in it's entirety). Just to sum it up, it was the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the most important of the Jewish festivals. Everyone went up to Jerusalem to celebrate. (Makes me think of Christmas and Easter...when people, who all year long have had nothing to do with God, show up at a building, and pay honor to the God of their ancestors out of some sort of obligation.) According to the Jewish tradition, it is a seven day festival that celebrates the bountiful harvest, and ends in the day of the "Great Hosanna", a time when they pray for the Messiah to come. Jesus went up secretly, but it's impossible to hide the Light in darkness. Soon, he was teaching in the temple, and the whole crowd was there. The Chief Priests and the Pharisees were listening, and becoming more angry with each word Jesus spoke. After all, they were the only ones who were only supposed to teach the Book of the law (the part of the Bible that had been written and the religious laws that accompanied it up to that point in history).

How fitting it was that Jesus chose this last day of the festival to go to Jerusalem. He was an answer to their many devout prayers that day, for the Messiah to come, yet they didn't even recognize Him. How many times have we prayed and prayed, and the answer came right away, and we didn't even see it, because it wasn't the answer we expected or wanted. Thousands, I am sure. But that's not what jumped out at me. What leapt off the page was how the people spoke to Jesus, and the way He responded to them. The Priests and the Pharisees (the most religious people of all at that time) spoke to the Son of God as if he was a lunatic. Can you imagine being face to face with the incarnate God, and having the audacity to insult Him, mock Him, and disregard Him? They were the elite of the Jewish religion. They were the "mature" of the faith. They had the Mosaic law written on their foreheads. Yet, in all their piety, with all their head knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they had no revelation of their own, and were completely ignorant as to whom was standing before them. They had a "piggy-back" religious experience. Abraham knew God. Isaac and Jacob were intimately acquainted with the Lord. The Jewish people of Jesus’ time studied their forefathers religiously, yet did not really know God. The faith of their fathers was such a powerful faith, that they could feel it, and were caught up in it. Unfortunately, when those descendents died, all that remained was the past encounters with God, and the laws they were forced to follow. These testimonies were powerful, but were never meant to replace the daily revelation that God wants all his people to experience. The freshness of the presence of God was replaced by the staleness of tradition, religion and law. It is a religious spirit that is sent to distract us from knowing God. To give us a false sense of security that we are just fine, because we are doing what we were taught. How crafty of Satan to use yesterday's faith to trick us into thinking we know God. Even though I grew up in a Bible believing, Pentecostal church and home, I had a "piggy-back" faith when I was little. My parents had experienced God in miraculous ways, and I remember my Mom daily in her Bible, getting fresh "manna" from heaven. She was a prayer warrior. She knew God. I only knew the God of my Mother. For many children, this is the case. It is our job as parents to teach our faith, and live our faith in front of our children. Then when they grow up, that relationship that they have watched for years should launch them into having their own, personal relationship with God. I never made that transition, and when I became an adult, and was faced with serious sin and problems, and I had no real power for myself. Having faith in someone else's faith doesn't work. I had to come to a place in my life where I desired to know God for myself. I finally did, when I was 22 years old, and what a difference it has made in my life!

In many churches today, that same spirit of religion is alive. It is no respecter of denomination. Catholic and Protestant, Baptist and Pentecostal alike. If the people are following the faith of someone else, and have no personal encounter with God for themselves, they are left to lean on tradition and rules. After all, the "church" is not a building or a denomination, but rather a group of people who know God. The buildings that we go to on Sunday are just a place for the Church to gather together. Lately, I have encountered many well intentioned people, who are filled with this religious spirit. I, at times, have to struggle to keep my walk with the Lord fresh, and battle to stay in His presence daily. When I feed my spirit with God's word and His presence, I know God more and more. I call myself a Christian, which means that I am striving to be Christ-like. How can I be like Christ, if I don't really know him? My deepest desire is to know Him.