good morning, friends, family, members of the press. hahaha. i've always wanted to start a speech that way, but since i don't give too many speeches (i'm not sure why - i'm pretty important), i thought my blog was the next best thing. it's been too long. a whole three days since i've last updated you on the epic that is My Life.
first, if you have not done so already, please youtube "do the ricky bobby" and TRY not to laugh. it trumps the "stanky leg."
next item on the agenda: crest white strips make my teeth feel like i am constantly eating something really sour that makes my face scrunch up. seriously. is my bright, beautiful, white smile really worth this? indeed it is. beauty is pain, friends.
and finally: yesterday i was reading psalm 56, and verse 9 really struck me. it says "God is for me." i know we hear that all the time, but i have to confess to you that a lot of the time i just don't believe it. sometimes i can have such a wrong view of who God really is that it's just sad. in rare moments when i really get a good look at who he is, i realize that he is loving and patient and kind and good and that his heart's desire is to bless me. i know that it says in psalms somewhere that he only does good things. i know that. and i can recite romans 8:28 with the best of the GA's and VBSers and good, southern baptist kids. but sometimes it's so much easier to believe that certain things are or are not happening because i'm being punished for something i have or have not done. what garbage. why bother even following jesus if all i have to do is worry about him getting mad at me and punishing me when i mess up. because let's face it: i mess up a lot and i would spend my lifetime getting in trouble. the beauty of it is the Truth. the simple truth that jesus died to save me from any and all punishment for my sins - what i have done, what i'm doing, what i will do; what i have not done, what i'm not doing, and what i'm not going to do - is all i need to know. that's the simplest and most wonderful piece of news i could ever be given. because jesus died AS me, my Father God can simply love on me and bless me and do good things in my life because i am chosen, favored, called out, separated, the first fruit of his creation, his delight. that doesn't mean he won't discipline me, but it does mean that he isn't sitting around waiting for me to mess up or not read my bible or make a wrong decision so that he can smite me. trust me, if he wanted to do it, he has already had multiple reasons and opportunities to. this is such a simple truth - it's the very core of the gospel, for crying out loud! but i feel like a huge burden has just been lifted off of me. i know that one day he'll have to teach me this very same lesson again, because i'm a silly sheep, but i hope that he'll help me to cling to this truth with everything i've got.
hm. step one in this life of freedom he wants me to live? i think so.
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