Obedience, Prayer and Pumpkin

I have to say (well, type) that Joseph and Mary really impress me. I've started reading through the book of Matthew again, and what really hit me in the 2nd chapter is how they followed God's guidance without hesitation. 

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother. 

- Matthew 2:13-14, NLT

What really struck me when I read this is that they got up and left that night. I can't imagine what it would be like for Matt to wake me up one night and say "Let's go, we have to move to North Dakota* tonight." They probably had friends in Bethlehem - they had already been there for about a year and half - and they just got up and moved that night. It blows my mind. That's the sort of obedience I hope I show when God gives me clear instruction.

To change topics a bit, I watched The Preacher's Wife last night. I remember watching it with my mom when I was younger, but I didn't remember it very well and it was in the Instant Play section of Netflix so I decided to watch it again. Although I disagree with some of the underlying theology, I thought it was a really good movie. I think my favorite thing about it was that as soon as the audience sees the pastor pray, God answers - just in different ways than he expected. I think that's fairly realistic, which is probably why I liked that part of it so much. Of course the singing in it was fantastic (Whitney can sing), too. It would be so fun to be in a choir like the one at that church...

Another recent highlight: We got to carve a pumpkin today! Matt and I found out we make a pretty good carving team. I hate decided what to cut, so he drew a picture on the pumpkin for me to cut out. Then I opened it up, gutted it, and cut along the lines (although he did the tree). Then he took the pumpkin back and cleaned up the edges, which was convenient since by that point I was done dealing with the pumpkin. I thought it turned out pretty nicely! Can you tell what it is?

You can still see the pen lines a little bit, but I'm sure they'll fade from focus once it's dark and we light a candle inside. It'll probably be easier to see the little scene then, too. Too bad the spots were too hard to include...

* North Dakota was chosen as it's roughly a 2-3 day drive, and based on the distance from Bethlehem and the edge of Egypt it probably took Joseph and Mary at least 2 days to get there...although that's just what I figured so it's just an estimation.