Two bombs explode in Boston today, killing and maiming indiscriminately, cutting down athlete and spectator alike. We shake our heads in disbelief, crying out that we are shocked and bewildered that this could happen. We question, "What kind of world is this that we are raising our children in where something so horrible could happen?" And we rally together, calling on our social media friends to pray.
A lone gunman enters an elementary school, carrying multiple assault weapons that he then uses to murder young children and their teachers. We sob, wringing our hands and our hearts in grief, and we ask ourselves how and why something so detestable could occur in this land. And we rally together, calling out for prayer and more gun control.
Roadside bombs explode in Afghanistan and Iraq, slaughtering American soldiers, massacring nationals, opening our eyes via television to the horrors of war. And we rally together, calling for our soldiers to come home and leave the Middle East to itself.
Google Earth reveals multiple prison camps in North Korea, each covering a minimum of ten square miles. Men and women are imprisoned, tortured for alleged crimes committed against the state by their parents and grand-parents. Children are born and raised in the horror of captivity, never knowing freedom, old and dead before their time. More men, women, and children have been imprisoned, tortured, and murdered in these Holocaust-style camps than were killed in the real Holocaust camps of World War II. We do not rally together. Rather, we delicately turn our heads, hiding from the crimes against humanity half a world away.
Each day, the number of fetuses and infants massacred in this country from medical abortion escalates, easily surpassing the total number of dead in World War II. Doctors who have taken an oath to "do no harm" do just that to the voiceless millions. And we do not gasp in horror nor do we cry out for our nation to come together to pray that the senseless murdering end. We do not protect these innocents with our laws. Nor do we ask how something so heinous could happen in our land.
We allow it.
We do nothing to stop the evil. We have become complacent in it. We have embraced it.
And, we pat ourselves on our backs with our blood-covered hands.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Lies The Enemy Tells Me
Jesus looked straight into the rich young man's soul and said, "I want you to give up the one thing that you crave more than Me."
This is a big thing for me. I crave lots of things, and food is one of them. Yes, I love the taste of certain foods, but I think my desire for food is there to cover up my desire for other things. I try to fill the void in me that constantly yells, "You don't fit in. You aren't good enough. You aren't pretty. You don't have friends. Nobody cares who you really are or how you really feel. You are alone."
So I try to fill these gaping wounds with a slab of brownies or a glob of ice cream or a second helping. And then I hate the way I feel physically and emotionally.
However, God says He is enough. He says I can trust Him to fill the voids. I can trust Him to be my everything. And when I crave Him more than anything else, then the everything else will not have control over me anymore.
Father, my head knows You are God. You say that You have a plan for me that is more amazing than I can even imagine to ask for. You say that You love me so much that You weren't willing to let me spend this life and eternity in Hell, so You gave Your Son Jesus to pay the price for me. I know those words, Lord, but I struggle to trust You for the total truth in them. I believe, but forgive me for not believing enough! So, I am going to step out on faith and believe that You have me, that You won't let me down, that You won't let me fall. Here it is, 100% right now. I am going to trust that with every bite that I don't eat, for every time I turn away from satisfying myself with food, for every step I DO take in exercise, You are filling the voids, closing up the gaping wounds in me. I choose to believe that You are going to fulfill your plan for me--and it is amazing!
This is a big thing for me. I crave lots of things, and food is one of them. Yes, I love the taste of certain foods, but I think my desire for food is there to cover up my desire for other things. I try to fill the void in me that constantly yells, "You don't fit in. You aren't good enough. You aren't pretty. You don't have friends. Nobody cares who you really are or how you really feel. You are alone."
So I try to fill these gaping wounds with a slab of brownies or a glob of ice cream or a second helping. And then I hate the way I feel physically and emotionally.
However, God says He is enough. He says I can trust Him to fill the voids. I can trust Him to be my everything. And when I crave Him more than anything else, then the everything else will not have control over me anymore.
Father, my head knows You are God. You say that You have a plan for me that is more amazing than I can even imagine to ask for. You say that You love me so much that You weren't willing to let me spend this life and eternity in Hell, so You gave Your Son Jesus to pay the price for me. I know those words, Lord, but I struggle to trust You for the total truth in them. I believe, but forgive me for not believing enough! So, I am going to step out on faith and believe that You have me, that You won't let me down, that You won't let me fall. Here it is, 100% right now. I am going to trust that with every bite that I don't eat, for every time I turn away from satisfying myself with food, for every step I DO take in exercise, You are filling the voids, closing up the gaping wounds in me. I choose to believe that You are going to fulfill your plan for me--and it is amazing!
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