Love Story

A couple of weekends ago, I was spending some time with a couple of friends at the lake. One of them said she would like to read a sexy romance novel. We, of course, both looked at her strange and then she made the comment she found “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers very sexy. This is when we both chuckled to ourselves and continued to talk. This is a novel based off Hosea about a marriage between a godly man and a prostitute. It’s an awesome read, one I highly suggest. Now it isn’t sexy like you might think of a Nora Roberts’s book. It’s a romance which centers around a relationship based on God.

Last night I was thinking about this.

Have we twisted romance into something it’s not? I would have to say yes.

Most love stories revolve around nonexistent themes, giving little girls the idea they’ll have these fake romances one day. A typical romance book (not novel, because most of these books are too simple to be labeled a novel) involves some overly sensitive, yet buff male who sweeps the young lady off her feet, carries her to bed and then at some point maybe weds her. The last part is optional. Most of these books have the same storyline and after the third or fourth reading of a romance book anyone with any sense knows what will happen.  

Let’s look at a book that may or may not have the sex part. Now I’ll admit I enjoy Nicholas Sparks every now and then, although it’s been a while. Actually “A Walk to Remember” is one of my favorites. I’ve given these novels a new name. Well, I stole this name from another article: emo porn. The odds of any of these romances happening are slim to none. In fact, if the guy from “The Notebook” was real, we would call him a stalker.

This isn’t love. It’s not real and getting lost in this world is not good for you. It’s like a man who watches porn. You are going to start expecting something from men which they are not. You are going to expect a romance to blossom in a way it can. Not every love story involves a man jumping on a carousal to ask you out or a smoking hot cowboy riding up on his pony all hot and sweaty and still smelling good to ride you off in the sunset. Mr. Carousal would be either a stalker or would give up and, sorry, but the stinking cowboy is more likely to make like Matt Dillon.

These fantasies make love into something it’s not. For one thing, well, there’s carousal guy and I’ve already covered that.  Now I’m still single so I can’t comment on love or marriage or anything other than what I’ve seen. True love isn’t the sparks at the beginning or falling into love just to jump into bed. (Honestly, falling into love sounds painful. I’m not a big fan of falling. Or pain.)

The most beautiful romances I’ve seen are the ones which have gone through the trials, stood by each other’s sides, raised a family, have put up with each other for 40-60 plus years and still are hanging in there. I like to think of my grandparents. I know they’re marriage has definitely not been smooth sailing. Actually how they ended up together is kinda sweet, but that’s beside the point.

For instance, granddaddy had a total knee done about a year ago. When he came home, grandma was helping him into the house and I was standing behind for support. Right before he reached the top step they had to stop and kiss for a moment. It was incredibly sweet. Watching them is amazing and finding out their stories is also pretty cool…even the bad stuff. Because that’s what makes love amazing: going through trials together with God at the center supporting everything and coming out still in love at the end.

Now since I’ve spent the whole time talking about bad romance books let me tell you what to read. Read the Bible. It’s the ultimate love story. For the first time ever I’m almost done reading it straight through. I’ve tried before and got a little distracted. Beside the point. The Bible is the ultimate love story of a gentleman Pursuer who is patiently waiting for His bride. The more I read the more I realize how much Jesus really loves me. Which in turn makes me love Him more. My favorite book of the Bible has become Ruth, and it isn’t so much the love story between Ruth and Boaz, but because it actually represents the love story between Christ and me.

Awww, it gives me chill bumps just typing it. What more do I need, really? J

Savior, Pilot Me

Now for the past couple of weeks I have been thinking more and more about God's will. It's always been something on my mind. Many times I have asked myself what is His will for my life? Now I think this has just been something I've been asking. Something I like to think would be nice, but really who has complete control. For a long time the answer has been me.
What's bad is I thought I was good at following? The thing is, I was up to a point, but then if it went off my path then I'm grabbing the reins. Like I was asking what newspaper should I apply for or help me with this interview. I didn't stop to ask "hey, should I be a reporter?"
Confession time: I did not stop and ask God if I should be a reporter. I didn't ask Him if I should go to Auburn. To get right down to it, I didn't even ask if I should go to college. I decided in seventh grade I would go to Auburn, major in journalism and become a reporter. Never did I take in consideration God's will. Not until now.
Now I can't say the past year has been because of my stubbornness of following my own plans. Sailing my own boat. Steering my own horse. Manning my own...you get the picture. Maybe this past year has been my big fish God used to grab my attention.
I can almost hear Him saying "OK stupid. You've had your own way long enough. It's time to give it to Me."
So I've been down on my knees a lot lately handing everything over. I think I'm starting to understand what He wants to. He's giving me only one step at a time. What's different is, yea I'm a little unsteady, but it's a good unsteady. I am confident His way is right. I've known it all along, but I've been hanging on to control. I'm tired of chasing my own dreams and coming up short. The last couple of years may have been a waste, but it's what I needed to get my attention.
Thank you God for refining me like gold and silver.

Proverbs 17:3

For My Number One Fan

So my number one fan told me to write a blog. Being the nice person I am, I decided to go ahead with one. Just to satify temporary because I am a little sleepy. Here are her suggestions (I would have just written down my dreams of becoming a boxer): 1. dating I really liked your Discretion blog and i think there is room to expand 2. Clothes and how we put way to much thought into it (feel free to use me as a case study i know i have a problem lol)3. The importants of having good christian friends. ( Sorry for any incorrect grammer, spelling, etc. It's a copy and past. Here it goes:
1) I'm not expanding on discretion or maybe I am. Actually, I may have already written about it. I've noticed people have a fascination in setting people up together. It doesn't make sense why it happens. Although everyone I know thinks they are amazing match makers I have yet to meet someone with any success. I'm speaking from experience. Yes, I like meeting new people. People are fun and interesting and all that good stuff. Somehow I don't think God is behind many of these setups. All you have to do is step back and let Him work. He knows what He's doing; He's been doing since Adam and Eve. I think He has it under control. I know you think you have the perfect match for your friends, but the odds are against. Please, let God do His job.
2) All right, I'm using friend as a case study. Maybe I'm just sleepy, but I can't think of how. I'm not sure I'm the right person to talk about this. Yes, I think about what I wear. I want to look nice to go to church. When I wear a dress or makeup, it's typically for Jesus. Just throwing that out there. It's good to dress up for church most of the time...I usually try to wear nice shirts and good jeans. I have to dress nice to go to work. It's kinda a requirement so I do it. If I'm going to dress up, I'm doing it right. It's another reason I usually don't go all out on Sunday. Jesus loves me as I am. Clothes define some people...or so they think. I've learned this more from observation. Want to act tough or like you don't care then wear black or emoish clothes. Want to be a jock: wear underarmor. Etc. Me. I like to be comfortable. I also want to look nice and some shirts I get really excited about. Like when I run a race and get a shirt I wear it that Sunday afternoon. No one usually notices, but I'm proud. OK, this probably has nothing to do with what she wanted so I'm moving on.
3) I have great friends and they are definitely from God. Everyone needs them. If you are hanging out with people who don't love Jesus, odds are they are going to drag you down. People want to impress. Unless you are solid in the faith, so solid you can handle peer pressure, then you need to be around good people. Christian friends. Bad company corrupts character. (Somewhere in Proverbs. Read the whole book and tell me where it is. You probably need to read your Bible anyway). Yes, your friends need Jesus. But hanging out with just these lost people will hurt you. God will provide Godly friends if you ask for them. It's one thing He won't say no too. Pray for them. Sincerely. They'll uplift. They'll support. They'll provide Godly advice.

OK here are my three topics. Bed time.

Tase Me, Bro

May 4. The date which will live in infamy. Our youth pastor, Daniel, and his two trusty sidekicks (why he gets two, I don't understand) have agreed to be tased if 175 students show up our church. It has me thinking what would I do to see one kid get saved. I mean, look up pictures of people getting tased. It ain't pretty. Go grab an electric fence for crying out loud. (Did that accidentally this morning) How many youth groups tase their ministers?
Now back to the question: what would you do to see someone saved? To see someone come to a relationship with Jesus.
Now there are being people, family and friends, who I want and pray to see come to this. But how far will I go to see it come to pass. If you haven't noticed I'm just trying to tell someone about Jesus. But would I allow myself to get tased? Heck yea!
Actually getting tased may not be the worse thing to experience. Now...would I move to Africa? Dance like a fool? Learn Japanese?
This is a big deal. We're talking about a distinct line between your family going to heaven or hell. How far will you go to make sure they come to love Jesus and except Him as Lord of their life?
The pain of being tased can't last more than a few seconds...unless...we'll leave that out. An eternity in hell last, well, an eternity.
I don't want my friends, family....anybody....suffering through that.
So go ahead and tase me  (or Daniel) if it means someone lives.

What are you waiting for?

I wanted to write this a few weeks ago, but my schedule and brain have both been a little crazy. It still rattles my mind and am now sitting down to do it if I don't get distracted by food or a storm. Every Wednesday and Monday night, after church/ bible study, I pass by a bar which I will leave unnamed for this blog. This unnamed bar always has a full parking lot on these nights I pass it. The only time it isn't full is Sunday...for obvious reasons. Everytime I look at it and think about stopping. No, not for a quick shot of Jack Daniels and a game of pool. How many lost people are sitting in there at that moment? Laughing and drinking and pretending to have a good time. If you like the bar scene, that's fine I guess. But every bar I've been in has left me feeling saddened for the locals. It's a dressing scene. Everyone drinking. Fake laughter...or what I call fake laughter. Anything assisted with the use of a substance is a little fake. I don't have anything against drinking either. I've had a few drinks before, not to the point of intoxication, but I have drank. Alcohol is fine; it's what they're be serving at the great banquet in heaven. When it gets to where you have to have it to have a good time, there's a problem. I don't need to get on that box. Actually I'm way off subject.
What if I walked into that bar and began telling people about Jesus? Or began building relationships so I can share the gospel? It's a thought. I never stop and do it. For one, some one from church would see my truck there.
Once a friend of mine had the title of this as her text signature and it made me think. What am I waiting for? In spreading the gospel. The bar is just a starting point, but how many other situations am I in where I can share the gospel.
Check out ugbcopelika.com and listen to this week's sermons because it gets more indepth...as a side note.

I've talked about Jesus and church and the Bible with people, but I've never shared the gospel outside of a few events. I keep making it a challenge to tell someone about about Jesus. But when. I don't want these people to go to hell. What am I waiting for? They aren't going to ask me. I've only had one person ask to go to my church...never someone ask who this Jesus is. I have to make the step to speak to them. Whether it's in a bar or at my job or when it's running a 5 K.

           What am I waiting for?

Tell a Friend

So last week, well for a while, I've been thinking about my Christian walk and what it means to be a Christian. I've always in the past thought, I need to tell people about Jesus and then I try. Cept I don't try, I chicken out or miss opportunities or whatever. But this is an essential part of the Christian faith. Like that guy in the Bible who found the pearl and sold everything to buy the field it's in. That's how big this message is we have. Actually way bigger than that pearl. People's souls are at stack. Millions of people are dying and going to hell and I'm too afraid to give them the good news. Anyway, I've been thinking about it a lot, and finding it everywhere, and then I get Mitchell's blog which is all about this topic. It's like God's going hello, I'm talking to you!! Yes, you kid. So that's been my goal all week: to tell at least one person about Jesus. That's all I need, one opportunity. What's bad is I'm going to bed dreaming about it now. I have to tell someone. How can I call myself a follower of Christ if I don't tell anyone? No one is going to walk up to me and ask why am I so happy all the time. I have to go tell people. Share this pearl I have stumbled upon. So this is my challenge to myself: tell at least one person about Jesus this week. By midnight Saturday. Once I get used to it, I'm sure it'll come easier. I just have to get into the practice of doing and I have to start somewhere.
http://sanctuary247.com/MD/

Explanation

To whom it may concer,
Although it is not needed, I think I might need to explain. Some people just misunderstand my reasons behind my decision. I listen to Christian music and I like it. And yes, I completely gave up listening to secular music. This does not mean I hate secular music. In fact, I still like many songs although not as much as I use too. I also don't think you're going to hell because you listen to it. That's not my decision to make and I don't know your heart. That's something you have to take up with God. I'm not going to condemn you or judge you. You can listen to whatever you want to; I don't care. You also don't have to change the station, although I'd prefer not listening to stuff with cussing or sexual innuendos.
The reason I switched and cut secular music out is for the glory of God. Simple as that. Christian music focuses my attention on God. And let's face it, I love singing about Jesus. Like 88.7 says daily, it's uplifting. I want my Lord to be glorified in everything I do and I can't listen to music that doesn't do that anymore. It's not you, it's me. Like David Platt said in a sermon I listened to the other day, the closer you get to Jesus, the more like Him you'll become.
One musician, Bach, said something, roughly paraphrased, on the subject. What's the point of music if it doesn't glorify God?
So here's the reason: I love Jesus! I'm radically in love with Him. I'm not saying you aren't, but this is how I express it.
Sorry if you didn't understand and I hope you do now.

Love,

Megan

God's Girls Conference

Today I was able to go with my grandma to the God's Girls Conference led my Ms. Jackie. Ms Jackie is a wonderful woman of God who I have come to love and admire. She wrote a good book, which I read before I met her. It covers her life, how she came to God and how she's been living for Him. I highly recommend it; just ask me when you see me and I'll see if I can get you a copy.
Anyway, the Spirit really moved at this conference today. The speakers, Ms Jackie and one of her friends, had so much to say and you could see their love for Jesus. I hope people can look at me and say man, she really loves Jesus.
Ms. Jackie spoke about suddenly moments. You know, those moments when God just moves and suddenly something happens and nothing will ever be the same. Like that night when I lay on my couch watching a movie on Hallmark and cried out to God because I wanted to be doing something and felt like I was doing nothing. The next morning Amanda texted me and soon we were doing the Backyard Bible Club.
These moments come when you least expected and afterward life will never be the same. And you don't want them to go back to normal. Like the crippled lady in Luke 13. When Jesus came into her life, everything in her life changed. It's those suddenly moments that do make a difference.
 The second message was what really spoke to me. It was from 2 Samuel 21 when David repaid the Gibeonites for what Saul did to them. The reason they got into their mess was because 200 years prior, Joshua did not consult with the Lord when the Gibeons came to him. It spoke to me because when I went to collage, I never consulted God. I don't regret it and I think it still was right, but what difference would it have made if I had. Maybe I wasn't supposed to go into jounalism. There's no telling what God would have said. For now on, though, I will take every matter to Him. I'm human and could mess up, but everything should go before my Lord. He knows the right way I should go.
I have no idea where my next step will lead me. I'm hoping Kenya, but there is no telling. Only Jesus knows where God's name can be glorified most in my life.

God is great.