Spiritual Growth

How about this for a whack in the head???Sure got my attention!

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-11 NIV

So I'm thinking...

No matter how naturally intellegent or "smart" a person is, they can study and make better grades. The harder a person studies, the more they learn.

No matter how much natural athletic ability a person has, practice and training make better. "Practice beats talent if talent doesn't practice".

The same is true in music.

And Negotiations in the business world.

The people who are driven to excell usually do.

And those that are satisfied to just get by usually do.

I hate it when I have to be honest, but here goes.....

I have not been DRIVEN to EXCELL spiritually. (UGH!) I have been satisfied to "just get by". I pray. I go to Sunday School, lead Preschool worship, Lead Ladies Bible Study, worship on Wednesdays even....and I read over my lessons for preschool worship and for ladies Bible study....and that's about it. Oh! I also listen to Christian music.

Really? That's it? There is no "practice" aka...digging deep into scripture- driven to know more of God. It sure hurts to look at my spiritual life so honestly.

Thankfully, one of my spiritual gifts is Faith. That helps aLOT...kinda like being a natural at hitting a baseball. my FAITH gets me through a LOT of stuff....like cancer for example. HOWEVER.....just like a batter with great talent cannot reach his/her full potential without dedication and determination and lots of practice, I am not going to reach my full potential without dedication and determination and lots of digging into God's word.

The scripture said Make every effort.

Every effort.....

every effort....

oh man! I am SOOOOOO falling short! Actually, my effort is not even worth acknowledging. Really, all I do is go to church. Not that going to church is a bad thing, but just going to church is like just going to school and never taking home a school book or a notebook to study for a test and HOPING that I'll remember every thing the teacher said in class. Wow. No wonder I am still a baby Christian. It is time to grow.

Father God,

Forgive me. Your word says that you have given me everything I need for godliness. Godliness is what I want to be exemplified in my life. Forgive me for falling short. Forgive me for not making every effort to increase my knowledge of you. Oh Lord! I do love you and I do want to know you more. Create in me a hunger and a thirst for your word and help me to add to my faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. Your word says that you have already given me everything I need for a life of godliness. I'm not even close. Help me Lord to be driven and dedicated and EAGER to know more and more and more of YOU!

Amen

Sunday Morning Prayer

Father God,

Another week is gone. Did I make the most of it? Thinking back over all the opportunities to share your love and all the temptations that reared their ugly heads....did i make the right choices? Sometimes I did....and sometimes I didn't. Forgive me, Lord for falling short.

Meet with me today Lord. Speak to me in Sunday School. Let me feel your presence in worship.

Most of all, Lord I want to enter next week with YOU as my focus. Create in my heart a hunger and thrist for YOU and your word that override any distractions. I want to feel Your presence in my life Lord. I know that you are with me always. Help me grow Lord. Help me live a consistant life that radiates Your love and Your ways. Help me get off the emotional roller coaster and live a life that is solid and steadfast because everything is built from Your foundation.

Lord, you are so good to me. You have blessed me beyond belief. I want my life to be a reflection of you and your love so that others will want to know you.

Thank you for saving me and thank you for allowing me to serve you!

Amen

Christian T-Shirts

Last night, my family took me to my fave restaurant for dinner. We were all in a good mood, cutting up and joking around and not paying much attention to the people around us....until our food got to the table. Once everyone started eating, I was made all too aware of the conversation in the booth behind us. I missed the first part of the conversation, but from what I could gather, the girl talking was telling her parents how she told someone “exactly how it was”. My 11 year old’s eyes were as big as dinner plates as this girl continued to rant....using “colorful” adjectives to punctuate her story.

I whispered to Brian “Remember, people who are not Christians do not live by the same standards you do. We can’t expect people who don’t know Jesus to understand how ugly that sounds.” He was satisfied with that. He shook his head and went on about his meal.

To my astonishment, when the group from the table walked past us to leave, the parents had on t-shirts with (presumably) their Church’s logo and mission statement on them and the daughter (the one with a mouth that would make a sailor blush) had on a t-shirt with the same church information but the back said “Praise team”. HUGE yellow letters on a blue t-shirt....couldn’t be missed! Was this person leading worship in her church?? If so, what must the people she is with everyday think being a “Christian” is all about?

My 11 year old looked at me as if to say “what ya gonna say now?”

In all honestly, what COULD I say? My argument that Christians don’t talk like that is out the window. Instead, We had to spend the ride home trying to explain to an 11 year old that some folks “just don’t get it”. It’s sad, because they are only selling themselves short and missing the blessing of a life overflowing with the love of Christ.

My sweet Brian summed it up for me.....

“I guess that is like Dad wearing a Mississippi State t-shirt.”

And he is exactly right. See, Calvin is a die hard Ole Miss fan, and Ole Miss and Mississippi State are state rivals. So, Calvin could WEAR a Mississippi State shirt, even go to the ball games and sit with the State fans, but eventually someone would catch him supporting the wrong team.

So I am now asking myself..."Do my words, my actions, and my attitudes agree with my t-shirt?"

12 most annoying Facebook Personalities

It's been a long day. I needed something light and pointless to entertain me.
This is what I found. A few of these made me laugh out loud!
Enjoy!!

The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers
By Brandon Griggs
CNN



(CNN) -- Facebook, for better or worse, is like being at a big party with all your friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers.
Facebook can be a great tool, and an occasional annoyance. What kind of Facebooker are you?
There are lots of fun, interesting people you're happy to talk to when they stroll up. Then there are the other people, the ones who make you cringe when you see them coming. This article is about those people.
Sure, Facebook can be a great tool for keeping up with folks who are important to you. Take the status update, the 160-character message that users post in response to the question, "What's on your mind?" An artful, witty or newsy status update is a pleasure -- a real-time, tiny window into a friend's life.
But far more posts read like navel-gazing diary entries, or worse, spam. A recent study categorized 40 percent of Twitter tweets as "pointless babble," and it wouldn't be surprising if updates on Facebook, still a fast-growing social network, break down in a similar way. Take a CNN quiz: What kind of Facebooker are you? »
Combine dull status updates with shameless self-promoters, "friend-padders" and that friend of a friend who sends you quizzes every day, and Facebook becomes a daily reminder of why some people can get on your nerves. Watch as Facebookers reveal bugbears »
Here are 12 of the most annoying types of Facebook users:

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore. "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.

The Self-Promoter. OK, so we've probably all posted at least once about some achievement. And sure, maybe your friends really do want to read the fascinating article you wrote about beet farming. But when almost EVERY update is a link to your blog, your poetry reading, your 10k results or your art show, you sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist.

The Friend-Padder. The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the site. Schmoozers and social butterflies -- you know, the ones who make lifelong pals on the subway -- might reasonably have 300 or 400. But 1,000 "friends?" Unless you're George Clooney or just won the lottery, no one has that many. That's just showing off.

The Town Crier. "Michael Jackson is dead!!!" You heard it from me first! Me, and the 213,000 other people who all saw it on TMZ. These Matt Drudge wannabes are the reason many of us learn of breaking news not from TV or news sites but from online social networks. In their rush to trumpet the news, these people also spread rumors, half-truths and innuendo. No, Jeff Goldblum did not plunge to his death from a New Zealand cliff.

The TMIer. "Brad is heading to Walgreens to buy something for these pesky hemorrhoids." Boundaries of privacy and decorum don't seem to exist for these too-much-information updaters, who unabashedly offer up details about their sex lives, marital troubles and bodily functions. Thanks for sharing.

The Bad Grammarian. "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron.

The Sympathy-Baiter."Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention.

The Lurker. The Peeping Toms of Facebook, these voyeurs are too cautious, or maybe too lazy, to update their status or write on your wall. But once in a while, you'll be talking to them and they'll mention something you posted, so you know they're on your page, hiding in the shadows. It's just a little creepy.

The Crank. These curmudgeons, like the trolls who spew hate in blog comments, never met something they couldn't complain about. "Carl isn't really that impressed with idiots who don't realize how idiotic they are." [Actual status update.] Keep spreading the love.

The Paparazzo. Ever visit your Facebook page and discover that someone's posted a photo of you from last weekend's party -- a photo you didn't authorize and haven't even seen? You'd really rather not have to explain to your mom why you were leering like a drunken hyena and French-kissing a bottle of Jagermeister.

The Obscurist. "If not now then when?" "You'll see..." "Grist for the mill." "John is, small world." "Dave thought he was immune, but no. No, he is not." [Actual status updates, all.] Sorry, but you're not being mysterious -- just nonsensical.

The Chronic Inviter. "Support my cause. Sign my petition. Play Mafia Wars with me. Which 'Star Trek' character are you? Here are the 'Top 5 cars I have personally owned.' Here are '25 Things About Me.' Here's a drink. What drink are you? We're related! I took the 'What President Are You?' quiz and found out I'm Millard Fillmore! What president are you?"
You probably mean well, but stop. Just stop. I don't care what president I am -- can't we simply be friends? Now excuse me while I go post the link to this story on my Facebook page.


Hugs!
K

God Sized

I have been waiting for God to tell me what to do. I imagine He shook His Holy head and said "Kris, Kris, Kris....how many times do we have to go through this?"

A few things happened this week that solidified my writing.... Writing, on this blog, in e-mails, for the FLO Blog and Bible Study, and, as of...well...I guess now, a book. Over the past month or so I have lamented over wanting to do BIG things for God. I have been reminded that I need to focus on doing GOD sized things rather than what I consider to be "big" things. Now, the things that solidified this...

First of all, my voice is still sooo weak. I can't sing and I can't really talk for long periods of time. I need to do SOMETHING to use up all these extra words I am alloted each day. My only real outlet is to write. Writing here allows me to share my heart and my thoughts about what God is doing in my life. I have always had the attitude of "I can NOT be the only one who feels this way / is going through this" and I feel like this is a way for me to share God with,....well...you.

Secondly, I am totally thrilled to DEATH that I have had over 600 visitors to this blog 2 months in a row now! I am even MORE excited that some of you have left comments. Than you SO much for your kind words and encouragement!

I had a completely random thing happen too. My best friend from JUNIOR HIGH (remember, I am pushing 40) introduced me to a chick that wants to write a Bible Study. After a couple of e-mails, we decided that we might collaborate on something. Her excitement and determination helped me see how cautious I have been about all this. It's not like anyone is waiting on a book from me....except maybe my mama. I don't have a deadline to meet or have any expectations to live up to. All I need to do is start writing and see what happens.

Then, I sent 2 friends my thoughts on the concept for a book. They both said "YES!" In short, I am so tired of beating my head against the wall when it comes to women in spiritual bondage to their past, it is time I delclared war on Satan. I guess this is how I am going to do it.  

So, FINALLY, as I am discussing the "book" with a friend, she gave me a WONDERFUL example of exactly the battle that we face when we are faced with things that REALLY stink, but cannot be changed. Afterall, there are things in life that just are what they are. You can't change them and you can't make them right because they are just terrible. So, ya gotta figure out how to live with what ever these things are. In my friends case, it is a loved one having terminal cancer. There is just nothing good about that.....unless we let God make something good of it. 

So, thank you CUP BEARER, I am excited about being a little hinge on whatever size door GOD wants to put me on! 

I'm just gonna do my little writing on my little blog and be thankful that God is in control.

Hugs all around!