On Tornados, Cookies, and Thieves

I live in Oklahoma. For those who know the great state of Oklahoma, we are known to have a lot of severe storms and frequent tornadoes in the springtime. That is actually one of the reasons I moved back; the weather in southern Texas was too mundane, I needed the bipolar nature of Oklahoma's weather to bring some excitement to my life. That being said, this season is opening up to be as expected. Great weather, then sudden storms then tornado watches & warnings. Last night was no exception. We had threat of severe storms with possible tornadoes, so I decided to stay up until the threat passed in the event I had to move the kids to shelter quickly. So, while I was waiting for the storms, I decided to fulfill my promise of baking cookies for my kids. ...145 cookies later, we did not have a drop of rain. The wind had slightly increased. The "tornado watch" window had expired. I went to bed. 

 Fast forward to this morning. I woke up to hearing the wind howling and thunder and rain. I was not surprised, because this was expected; the weather man had forecast rain in the morning for today. Then my phone buzzed, text message coming in. I ignored it, because I normally get "Good Morning" texts from my friends when they wake up. But the texts did not stop. So I picked up my phone, and lo and behold.....there was a tornado coming to my area. It had come frighteningly close to some of my friends. Another friend called me to makes sure I was awake. It happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly. So how do thieves fit in? Did I, or someone I know get robbed during this tumultuous time? No. This experience brought a sudden and unnerving awareness of what Paul meant when he wrote 1 Thessalonians 5:2: "For you yourselves know that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night". Sometimes, we are made aware of thieves in the area. We have news broadcasts, neighborhood watches, etc. We are given advice on how to protect ourselves, and our homes. No one ever knows when a thief will come. My friends and I knew the storms were coming. We talked abut it. We had prepared.  But we were asleep when happened. Then the storm came like a thief. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. And I was asleep. If it weren't for my friends, I would have not known that there was any danger; but more importantly, if I had chosen to ignore the messages (like I normally do, until I am ready to deal with it) I could have found myself in a world of hurt. 

 Praise God, we were all safe. The tornado passed, and did not affect me at all. So all this to say: Don't Ignore the Messages. 

Reflections on the Christian Walk

It has literally been years since I have written on this blog. I had forgoten I had it. And yet, it still stands. I have been reading the book of Thessalonians, and I find myself struggling with the concept of "The Christian walk, or the Christian way". What does it mean? What I have seen a lot is the concept of "love, and love without reservation". "Love without judgement". "Acceptance". I have seen nothing of "Standards". Do Christians have standards? What are standards? So, according to the dictionary (dictionary.com :) ) standards are defined as "Those morals, ethics, habits, etc., established by authority, custom, or an individual as acceptable." I belive we are supposed to. So, follow my thought process here: - Christians are identified as followers of Christ. - We belive that the Bible is the Word of God, and all in it is devine inspiration from God to man. - The Bible shows us how to live; it is the letter from God to Man expressing His loving character to all. So, The authority of Christ followers is God, and He has outlined His standards for His followers in His word. Now, lets focus on the New Testament. Is this also devine inspiriation? Are these words still instructions? Do the words after the book of John REALLY matter? Are they inspired words to show us how to conduct ourselves as Christians, or were they only for specific churches at specific times and no longer apply to us? This is my struggle. I belive in the absolute authority of the Bible as the Word of God. I belive that as a believer in Christ and a follower of His way, His message did not stop at the cross. If it did, there was no need for Paul to write letters. There was no need for anyone to write anything else, because it would have concluded at the death of Christ, and all our sins were washed away, and all we would have to do would be accept Christ and then pray the Holy Spirit work in us. The messages didn't stop at the cross though. God continued to inspire men to write; I believe those writings are to help refine us. Otherwise, the rest of the New Testament after John 21:25 would not be needed. In reflecting on the mainstream "Christian Walk", I find a lot of people stopping at the end of John, and applying the words beyond that to specific people at specific times but not the Christians now because all we need is to "Love" and "Let the Holy Spirit deal with everything else". Why was this not sufficient for the Christians after the book of John? Why did there need to be subsequent writings? In my mind, the relationship with Christ is a personal thing; but the walk is to be done in community. I think, in every Christian's walk, they pass through moments where they may behave or struggle with behaviors or ideologies or concepts that are adressed within the New Testament, and we are to support, encourage, guide, admonish and help each other through the journey. I believe that Christians shold not stop at "love", but START there. Only in Love can we move forward as instructed in the books beyond John. Only in Love can we have strong families, strong churches, and strong communities. Only in Love can we sharpen our brothers and sisters in Christ, and help each other refine our characters. Loving man is not the end goal of the Christian Walk. It's just the beginning.