Lemonade, American Flags and Deliverance

I just got out of staff meeting this morning for this week. In our devotion time, we talked about Independence Day. We even got little ten inch flags and sang the Star Spangled Banner. I was moved when we began talking about how our freedom from the British was something that the Lord provided through keeping the fort from being overtaken. Just like the children of Israel were delivered from the Egyptians, God delivered us to be able to worship Him in spirit and in truth. People have tried to rewrite history, to say that our country wasn't founded on godly principles and that the truth of Jesus Christ may not be truth at all and that if it is a fable at best, it can be left to be told by local churches who are to remain separate. But this is a lie from the pit of hell. You cannot rewrite history. It is what it is. All the propaganda and all the masquerading cannot cover up the fact that our nation really is one nation under God.
When thinking of the 4th day of the 7th month, I think of little girls with sticky blond hair running through their oak tree lined streets to get to the nearest lemonade stand. I picture a parade on a shaded street with a sea of red, white and blue as far as the eye can see. But the unspoken heroes of the day are those who gave their lives, their fortunes and their reputations so that we would have the freedom to forget their names. While I'm at a cookout this Sunday, the 4th, I will remember the price that Jesus paid for my spiritual freedom from death, sickness and hell. I will remember the deliverance He gave me through paying the debt I could've never paid. And I'll think on these words as well...

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Francis Scott Key

Watching and Waiting

Today as I wait at the house for my new Mac to come to me, the Lord is reminding me of something. If only I were to look for Him like I'm looking for that Fedex man! With every noise, every rustling of the front shrubs, every hum of a heavy duty truck, ANY symbol of my Mac's arrival, adrenaline courses through my body, my eyes perk up all to realize it was a small pick up truck carrying mulch, a bird or a squirrel.
I'm actually sitting in the formal living room we only use when entertaining those who stop by unannounced. I'm sitting here on the laptop I'll soon enough forsake, and I'm working from home-completely reworked my schedule so that I could greet MacKenzie in all her glory.
I'm plagued with the question "Did I miss it and am I waiting in vain?" The ipod I ordered and presigned for is here. But on the tracking, the computer is on the truck waiting to be delivered. I call and have no human to talk to, only the option of tracking it as I've already done through the internet. Ugh.
If I live my life this afraid that I've missed God's will for me, I won't get anything accomplished for Him in the meantime. And if I live my life this aware of His return, of His leading between now and then, constantly looking for any sign of His approach, waiting with much excitement for His arrival, making myself readily available to meet Him at the door, how much better would my time here be?
I'm going to continue working on things from here instead of the office. I'll probably continue to jump at every noise. And if nightfall should get here before the arrival of my computer I'll be majorly disappointed. Did I miss it? Did he bring it when he brought the ipod? I can't get a straight answer when I call...

Prayer is sometimes like that, but I know that what I've been promised is coming. I know what I've asked for and I know I'll receive. I just have to continue to make myself available; and I'm not just talking about my Mac.

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28

But, but I don't wannaaaa!!!!

There is a precious two year old little man living with us for a few days. The family I'm staying with during my internship are grandparents to out of town grandkids. Asher is bright, funny, talented and loving. He smiles widely and his big, blue eyes shine. He is fairly even tempered...until he wants to go outside and leave the door open though Granddad says no, or until it's time to wash his hands for dinner and he "doesn't want to," or until he needs to put the train and it's track away and get ready for bed. Tonight as he plays downstairs with the family and I listen tucked away in my upstairs bedroom, I realized something about this lively redhead.

We aren't all that different.

The day goes smoothly, work goes well, life trudges on...until God tells me to leave when I want to stay or to stay when I want to leave, or when I hear the Holy Spirit telling me to do the opposite of, really anything that I want to do. Asher's mommy is patient and soothing as she looks at him and says "Asher, you have a choice. You may go outside and we obey Granddad by closing this door, or you stay inside. Those are your choices. Pitching a fit is a sad choice and will get you nothing." He just looked at her and said "Oh. Okay." and plopped back inside the house. How many times does my heavenly Father look patiently at me and say "Jada, you have two choices. You may be in my will or outside of it. But pitching a fit is a sad choice."? If only I had the wisdom of that two year old enough to say "oh, okay" and plop myself right into the middle of what God is doing next.

"Out of the mouths of babes," "a little child shall lead them," and all that jazz.

Miracles, Love and Stuff

I want to see miracles. I want to raise the dead. I want students so on fire for God that all they want to do is know more about Him and share Him with their friends and reach out to people they normally wouldn't. I dream of a revolution, a turning of events that calls awareness to the things that trip people up from having the ultimate life possible. I pray for healing and deliverance so that all obstacles will be cleared for people who are wasting days they aren't promised.

I hope for true love. Love that casts out fear. Love that makes me feel safe and secure. Love that will personify Christ here and now. I wait for the love that will last. I pray for the love of heaven formed intrinsically for me. I pray for my children and lately God has been instructing me to pray for my grandbabies too. This is my promise that my husband will come. And when he does, I'll rejoice with exceeding great joy.

I think true love is a miracle. I think that anytime a human can lay down selfish motives, sinful ways and put someone else first, a miracle has occurred.

Beating the Air & shooting the breeze

I have been thinking about a lot of different things lately. 1 Corinthians 9:26-17 has been something that I've been thinking on. "I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." I don't fight just to beat the air. My movements should be intentional. Those movements should be to live the life I preach about. I don't want to preach to others and then not be doing right, myself.
There are some other things happening that are too personal for the ole world wide web. But trust that they are happening.