Still waiting

Ann has not gone to start her induction just yet. We are waiting for a bed to open. Those other ladies are not pushing fast enough:)

Soon to be big brother!

Ann will be induced tommorow. So watch the blog and there will be instant updates and pictures!

David Miller

The Desire of Your Heart

People long for and want what they cannot have and then spurn what they are given. This season of the year is a perfect example. The little child opens his present only to discover that it is not what he wanted and the wrong color at that. Not mentioning the fact that the gift costs them nothing, people will still think or speak of how they received something they did not desire.

There is one Christmas in particular that I remember as a young boy. My family went to my maternal grandparents house and the time to open gifts arrived. I was so excited. With several gifts to open from my family laying in front of me I chose my gift from uncle Jim to open. Ripping the paper into shreds I found a Lego set.
Now, I should have been grateful and happy (I know now that Legos are expensive), but I wasn't. I actually pouted and when mom and dad told me to say thank you I didn't. In fact I was so stubborn about appreciating the gift and saying thank you that I took a spanking and time out more than once before I said it. I don't even remember what I wanted that I didn't get. Yet, the funny thing is I still have that Lego set and now my son plays with it when he goes to grandma and grandpa's house?!

What I didn't want at first turned out to be one of my favorite toys. Sometimes what we want is not as good as what we get. But what about those times when you get exactly what you want.

My senior year of high school I wanted an electric guitar for Christmas. My parents had taken me to look but they were quit expensive and I figured it was possible to get one but not exactly the one I wanted. I had my eye on an American made Lone Star Strat with two single coil pickups and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates 2 Humbucker, Maple fretboard in white with a red turtle shell pickgaurd, it was the perfect guitar for me!

Christmas morning came around and what did I get? A single box with a kapo in it. A 4" x 4" box with a KAPO IN IT! I was not happy, not only did I not get my guitar, or any guitar for that matter, I only got one measly present. I however acted grateful even though I sinfully was upset and selfish inside. Then my father asked if I had gotten everything out of the box. I said yes and he responded, "I don't think so." Upon further investigation I found a note saying the rest of your Christmas is in your room. I walked back to my room and there laying in the middle was, yep you guessed it, a Lone Star Strat with a maple fretboard in white with a red turtle shell pickgaurd. Let's just say I was excited. I had received exaclty what I wanted!

You know the Lord works a lot like these two stories. He gives us what is best when our desires are wrong or they are misguided. He gives us what we want when we are seeking the things of his will, but in his timing. What do you long for and want from God? What have you been given that you neglect?

When you know that you want what God wants, ask for it and patiently await his timing to bring blessing and opportunity into your life. Then when it arrives don't neglect it or take it for granted for nothing is better than the Father's grace. It is an amazing thing when God gives you the desire of your heart!

Unworthy but desiring,
dave m

Really?

The Pinnacle

When Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of the temple by Satan during the wilderness temptation, the test was to throw himself down so that the angels would catch him. Think with me for just a moment, what a sight that would have been. This unknown carpenter from a little useless town of Nazareth standing at the edge of the massive cliff, jumping off. If no one noticed that, I am sure the legion of angels carrying him safely to the ground would have garnished some attention. And upon his landing, then what? Instant recognition. There would not have been a person for miles around Jerusalem that did not hear of the amazing occurrence. Those who didn't believe, they would have come to meet the man for themselves.

But why not? Why did Jesus refuse? The easy answer is the Devil asked him to do it and we know Jesus would never listen to the devil. But wait just a moment. Jesus was a man, God for sure, but a man too. He had not eaten for forty days and was at the point of bodily injury and starvation. Why, because the Spirit, that is his Father's Spirit, led him to do so. This was a training session in obedience for the Son, a next step in the road to the cross. However hard the wilderness may have been, it was not what the cross would be.

Jesus must suffer and obey the heavenly Father as a man, no divine privilege here, no supernatural scapegoat, just the fortitude and will of a man to obey perfectly his Father's will. That is why we could not do it. I would have broke. "I take the easy way, give me a bread loaf from that rock cause I am about to die." But not Jesus, he trusted in his Father's provision and endured in obedience, even when the circumstance was extremely hard.

So what does that mean for us. Well, simple. If Christ was willing to endure a forty day fast in the wilderness just because his Father told him too, what will you endure. We bail quick when it doesn't seem right. We retreat when things don't make sense. Do you think that it would make sense to you if God asked you to go to the wilderness and not eat for forty days. Most of us would rationalize and say obviously I didn't hear from God. Including me. Not Jesus, that is why he is the Messiah. That is why he has the authority. He is the obedient Son who is blessed by God.

Jesus knew the Father better than any of us ever will. Follow his lead, emulate his example and endure in obedience. The Father knew best for Jesus, and his obedience provided salvation for all who are in Christ. What will your obedience provide?

The pinnacle was not to be the temple mount. The pinnacle was obedince unto death, even death ona cross. There and only there, all the world may see and believe.