Chen up

When a load of work seems to flop off your shoulders, you tend to be more productive in most every field.  I managed to catch up with some work emails that I had been burdened with for maybe 2 weeks due to  more improvements on the warehouse here at work.  Some I shamelessly archived assuming that if the matter was important enough, they'd email back two weeks later, called, or forgot about the whole thing anyway.  But most I took care of.

Something about a clean and empty inbox fills me with a ridiculous amount of joy, I can't help but wonder, why I don't do things like this more often.  When something comes to my desk.  Do it fast, do it well.  That's just all there is to it I guess.  Now, the last two days I've been at work, I zip through every new email that comes in for me, manage to catch up on Facebook, read the blogs of people I care about, and still have the energy to be inspired to update my on rusty on for my own leisure.  Also, I opened all my mail :], some from back in July...

I pulled out of the driveway on Friday thinking to myself: "What a beautiful day, there are so many reasons to be happy." <---literally a="a" and="and" block="block" chevy="chevy" down="down" drive="drive" exclusively.="exclusively." for="for" going="going" graze="graze" han="han" head.="head." i="i" in="in" my="my" nbsp="nbsp" of="of" on="on" one="one" p="p" panish="panish" spoke="spoke" street="street" suv="suv" the="the" tire="tire" was="was" what="what" who="who" with="with" woman="woman">

• Unimportant side story:  skip if you don't care.  So this accident, unfortunately is my fault.  While I was marveling at God's amazing chilly day, with my fogged up windows and all, I didn't see the oncoming car and slammed the brakes a little too late.  I scratched the massive SUV's tire and hub in exchange for a small dent on the right side of my fender.

After the whole ordeal, I found myself muttering to myself, thinking "Really God? really....this must be absolutely hilarious to someone in the universe right now."  Following that, I am getting an absurd amount of calls I can't answer from a guy named Lucio Ricardoz, who is the husband of poor victim Spanish woman.  He leaves messages like "Hey, you need to pay for my wheel." After the whole thing was resolved, I'm now out $650 but I'm still in a good mood.

I get so upset when I notice how vulnerable to sin I am.  How one minute I can say PRAISE GOD! and the very next second whine and complain and bicker and mope.  I kick myself in the shin and wonder how genuine my faith really is.  In the meantime, Saturday, God wakes me up early to spend some time with Him, this is where He led me:

Matthew 4

The Temptation of JesusThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written,“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple  and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’and“‘On their hands they will bear you up,    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,“‘You shall worship the Lord your God    and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

I am intrigued by what God is telling me here.  The tempter strikes in predictable and calculated times.  Jesus had JUST been baptized, experience the whole "This is my son, whom I am well pleased thing." probably on a spiritual high.  Finds himself alone in the wilderness and is hungry after 40 days.

The tempter attacks you in 3 very specific occasions:

• When you feel the closest to God
• When you feel completely alone
• When you are in desperate need

Secondly what the Spirit is telling me is that the Spirit led Jesus into this trial....So who's the bad guy, the tempter or the guy who leads me to the tempter.  This whole thing is all very interesting, but I've resided to abbreviate this part to the shepherd knows where he is leading is. [that is all]

Finally the son tells me this in Matthew 26:41
"Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

I am willing Lord.  My flesh is weak but I am willing.  Cleanse me of my iniquities and let me embrace the joy of your salvation.

Amen

Dermatitis and God

I suffer from a skin condition called dermatitis.  I don't know what it is, or why the doctors diagnose me with it.  Frankly, I don't think they know what it is either.  They figure just chronic itchiness of the skin is dermatitis.

Here's a little description of my condition.  I get itchy a lot, which is focused on my hands and feet.  I have a rough tendency to scratch it.  But it turns out this condition was going on for so long that I was starting to see cancerous symptoms.  [Thank you webMD for freaking me out ] The last straw I figured was when I started actually liking the pain of pouring scalding hot water on itching fingers and then wrapping it in a sheet of tissue and pressing in on it.  Because of this, my fingers began to ooze puss,so I went to see a doctor.

Doctor just said its dermatitis, and gave me a steroid based ointment to help my skin grow.  I guess the itchiness is the perpetual tendency for the body to recover  When it grows new skin, the bonding of the skin causes it to itch, when I itch it I tear the skin apart and guess what?  You got it, the whole thing happens again.  I found out my allergies also irritate it as well.  The ointment is meant to accelerate my skin growth and in the meantime.

So a year or so later from then, my dermatitis has not gone away.  The ointment doesn't cure dermatitis  it just makes sure my skin doesn't turn a bloody unappealing monstrosity.   I do get the urge to itch every so often and sometimes, I actually succumb to them.

Why is this important?  I was pondering this today coming out of a recent itching phase which left scars on my finger.  I was thinking how paralleled this is to my walk with God.  Let me elaborate.  We will simply put things together as I see fit:

Itching = temptation
Scratching = sinning
Pain and scars = result of sinning
Ointment = Jesus Christ.

So you have it this way.  We are all perpetually tempted in this befuddling world.  Everyone itches.  sometimes scratching will make it go away, but how many times have you said "my arm itches" and your mother tells you "Don't scratch it".  It's easy to say "Don't scratch",  It's an entirely different matter to resist itching it.  Likewise, we can tell each other do not sin, to resist it is an entirely different matter altogether.

Jesus Christ provides us the strength to resist the urge to itch.  Will the itch does not go away, Jesus gives us the growth we need to stay strong and resist temptation.  We also know that Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins.  Washing away the pain and the scars of our past mistakes and shortcomings.  Putting on the ointment of Jesus does not make temptation go away, but it makes fighting temptation a little more meaningful.

Do you have anything in your life that you see as a hindrance or frustration?  Finding God in the little things in life help bring peace in a frustrating situation.  Mind sharing?  Comment please.