Missing Meals

Whodathunkit?

A simple Facebook status question this evening would have generated so many responses.  More than 20 at the time of this writing.

What's for dinner at your house?

That was my simple question.

From pizza burgers (that sounds real good) to quiche, from chili to leftovers.  Folks are serious 'bout supper.

A few observations:

• Some of you, my friends, really need to have my family over for dinner because y'all are cooking good.
• The Householders need some more dinner invites.  I mentioned one just like that already?  Sorry.  Not.
• We ain't missing meals round here, are we?  On average, a Facebook status gets two or three replies. But dinner?  We folks got plenty to say about what we're gonna eat.
• Would that I could be so hungry for the Word of God.  That I had a plan to consume it & passion to share it just like my dinner.  We, as Americans, & even as Christ Followers, are missing too many meals.

 Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

How do you get the Word of God in your life daily?  Please share a comment with your suggestions for others.

The Wind

I snapped this pic after my run today.  A joy to be out.  A joy to be done.  My day off, I'd waited til after the kids left for school this morning.  With the sun up over the horizon warming the 8 degree skies, wind at 10+ mph, & a real feel of -3, I layered up appropriately.  Out I went to run the snow plowed, yet patchy streets of our subdivision with the assurance I had the right gear for the conditions.

For the first few minutes in the sub freezing outdoors you wanna think, "Agh, I overdressed.  I'm gonna get too hot before I'm done."  Then you remember two things: first, you got dressed where it was 60 degrees warmer; second, you always feel this way until the cold presses in through your layers.  Wait a few minutes before turning home to shed some gear.

Sure enough a mile or so down the road the warmth you felt yields to the weight of the cold.  Your flesh is screaming the reality, "It's really cold out here, Yehu!"  Experience speaks to your flesh again before you are tempted to turn home, "Give it a bit more & you'll warm up."

And, if you've dressed right, you do warm up.  You feel great.  Cold face, yes.  Chilled a bit here & there, at times.  Yet generally, just right.  Run you do, picking your steps through the snow & ice.

Then, just when things seem to be going so well, you face another force.  One more fierce than the cold.  "You conquered 8 degrees? Ha! Wait until you meet me," it growls.

You turn into the wind.

The wind.  Bites.  Cuts.  Hurts.

All the warmth from being layered right.  All the self-congrats for choosing well & running strong.  All are laughed at by the wind.

You push through.  You steel your will.  You suffer on.

No matter how you feel you have gotta get your miles.  And if it's too tough to get all your miles, you at least have to get home.  These conditions will hurt you.

Isn't life like that?

You bring your best plans.  Your best stuff.  Your best prep.  You are up to the challenge.  You are ready to conquer.

Then you turn into the wind.

The fierce, frozen, cutting, angry wind.

You question yourself.  You question God.  You second guess.  You doubt.  You cry.  You complain.  You stumble.

But you gotta keep going.  You can't stay out there in the cold.  You gotta reach the peace & warmth of home. You press on.

Through.

The wind.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37

Root Nacks

(Note: This is the recreated post that I lost provoking my declaration against PCs in the previous post.)

Half eaten bowl of Lucky Charms before him & my sweet when he wants to be, always entertaining son, JM, starts in this AM.  Lobbying his Mama.  Working it with all the preschool logic he can muster.  The boy wants fruit snacks.  In Markese, his somewhat still toddlerfied talk, it comes out "root nacks."

We're two days away from his fourth birthday.  He & Mama had been shopping just yesterday.  They returned with all sorts of goodies for his Toy Story themed party.  And not just Toy Story, but Toy Story Three.  If you forget to add the third word he'll correct you.  "Toy Tory Free."

One of those goodies was a box of Toy Story Fruit Snacks.  Fruity.  Chewy.  But, dare I say, waxy.  JM wants root nacks right away.  

I wanna open my root nacks now, Mama.

You can't eat them now, John Mark, they're for your birthday.

I won't eat them.  I'll just hold them.

Temptation.

How long do you think ten root snacks will last in the hands of a three year three hundred sixty three day old boy before they make it to his mouth?

We think we can get close to our temptation & not fall.  Maybe.  Some.  But not always.  No more than a preschooler with root nacks.  Why even go there?

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day & night.  Psalm 1:1-2

Share a comment.  What does this Scripture teach you about avoiding temptation & falling to it?

Death to PCs

Don't read me wrong.  Not people of the politically correct stripe.  I love people.  Personsal computers not so much.

Would you like to know why I make this bold declaration of death to PCs?

Just now: I had my brand new MacBook Pro installing it's final updates in the middle of my desk.

Simultaneously I was completing a new blog post about temptation on my desktop PC.  Then my PC crashed.

There is always autosave, right?

When it works.

It didn't.

And I lost it.

My post.

My patience.

How ironic.  Just about to leave PCs forever and my PC had to kick me in the backside on the way out the door.  Bitter.  Sad.  Irony.

Death to PCs.

I'm Aaron Householder.  And I'm a Mac.

Dancing Patience

My dear daughter, ballerina princess that she is, dances around the living room.  No music playing that we can hear.  She moves blissfully to the song in her soul.  Beautiful.

My dear son, bulldog determined as he is, recites his Awana memory verses.  Words leaving his lips correctly, yet disconnected from his heart.  He erupts impatient to the distraction of his sister.  Ugly.

His Scripture passage, James 1:19, states, "My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."  It was under the topic, "I can be patient with other people."  Ironic.

This vignette is not recounted for you to conclude I have one precious child & one mean child.  No, far from it, my kids are kids.  They have their moments like all of us.

He could have danced with her.

He could have ignored her dancing.

He could have refocused on his own task.

He could have thought about what he was saying.

He could have... you can imagine your own ending.

This vignette - dancing or erupting, joyful or hateful - where patience was spoken yet impatient irony acted is retold to make us each think.

What do I do when my buttons are pushed?

What do I say when my limit is exceeded?

Where is the irony between my words & deeds?

How do I handle unexpected challenges?

How do I respond to difficult circumstances?

Dancing?

Erupting?

Joyful?

Angry?

Patience has been called the chief Christian virtue.  Toughest earned.  Hardest exercised.  Foundational to faith. Hallmark of maturity.

Dancing.  Patience.  We could all use a little more of both.

My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, & slow to become angry.  James 1:19