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.

God Protects, Listens...and Has a Sense of Humor

It can be frustrating to wait for God's timing on things. In retrospect it's usually easier to see how his timing is always best, but that doesn't make it easier while you're waiting...especially when you have bills to pay and a lot of free time to wonder why he's taking so long.

In these instances I try to change my perspective. When a child is waiting for something, 15 minutes can seem like an eternity. An adult knows that it's well worth it to wait that 15 minutes, though, or whatever they're waiting for won't be quite as good (i.e. the food might not be cooked all the way through). I think it's the same way with God. We sit here wondering why it's taking so long for him to do his providing thing. Who knows - maybe the situation he has in mind isn't set up quite right yet, maybe we need to learn something before we're ready, maybe his way is something completely different than we expect...or maybe he knows that we'll appreciate the opportunity more if it doesn't just land in our lap.

These are also times I remind myself of all the ways I've seen God work in my life. In the past 10 years alone, I've seen God protect me, answer my prayers and use his timing to remind me he's in charge.

God protects:

Fairly soon after I got my license in high school, I was driving as my friends and I hung out. We had talked about playing pool earlier, and then ended up doing something else instead (I can't remember what). One of my friends decided to go home while my other friend and I decided to go to Starbucks. As we were on our way to the coffee shop, we realized my friend forgot her pool cue in the backseat. I'm not quite sure why we decided we needed to return it before going to get coffee, especially since we'd see her again soon, but we decided to make a detour to her house to drop it off. As we were leaving to head back out to Starbucks (and the busy street we had to take at commute time to get there), my brakes stopped working. Fortunately I was only going about 20mph, and was able to slow down as I turned the corner and park on the next street. Of course the cell phone we had for emergencies didn't get any reception (that was back when everyone didn't have one), but we also happened to be about 5 minutes by foot from my parent's house. Just think - the brakes could have given out when I was going twice as fast on a much busier street at commute time. We also could have been stranded much further away.

God listens:

There are two times I've asked God to heal Matt within the past year and a half, and both times he has answered my prayers exactly as I asked. The first time was at Mount Hermon (family camp) with my family last year. At the beginning of the week he wasn't feeling very well - like he was beginning to come down with something (I think it was Monday night). He asked if I would pray for him to get better, so I did. I didn't really think about it at the time, but when I prayed I asked that he would feel better by the next day. The rest of the night he still felt sick and, when he woke up the next day, he felt perfectly fine. This happened again right after Matt came back from a missions trip to Mexico. Of course, this was right after Swine Flu broke out (when everyone was panicking), and he came home feeling terrible with a fever. We took his temperature right away and it was 101. I prayed that God would bring his temperature down within the next few hours and help him feel better soon. Although it took a few days for him to feel better, I took his temperature again two hours later and it was down to 98.

God times things perfectly:

The most recent instance of God reminding me that he's in charge occurred within the past few months. I don't remember much about what was going on, but I know it was a Thursday and I was complaining to Matt about how I was hungry. Of course, he felt the need to point out that I sounded a lot like the Israelites in the desert grumbling to Moses about food, to which I told him I didn't see any manna lying around. About a minute later, the doorbell rang. Standing there was a UPS man holding a "Mannatech" box that happened to be full of food (Beef/Turkey Jerky, chocolate, etc). I knew my mom had sent a box, and she told me it would it would arrive on Friday. Apparently God had arranged for the package to arrive a day early at just that instant to remind me that he's in charge...and that he has a sense of humor.

I know thinking back to these situations and trying to change my perspective doesn't make time speed up, but it helps me stay calm and not worry. I know God is going to provide what we need when we need it and, in the meantime, he's listening to my thoughts and concerns...and most likely using this time to teach me something new.

Life Then vs. Now + What Change Means to Me

Happy October! It's weird to think that Matt and I have been living in Washington for almost 3 months already...and even stranger to think that we've been married for almost a year (it'll be a year mid-November). It's odd to think of how much my life has changed in just a year. This time last year, I was working 40 hours/week plus a 30 min commute each way 3 of those days, involved in a variety of weekly activities (i.e. Bible study), planning a wedding, driving about 2 hours a week to spend time with Matt, finding time to hang out with family and friends and, of course, keeping up with a few of my favorite TV shows. How did I do all of that?? Now I work closer to 30 hours/week with a daily commute to my living room, spend time with Matt (which requires no drive whatsoever), try to go for walks at least 5 days/week, and keep up with a variety of TV shows. I guess I could add the Bible study we've started going to since we've gone twice and plan to continue...but even still, my activity level has significantly dwindled. As someone who enjoys having a lot going on and keeping busy it's been a bit of an adjustment, but I know it's a part of moving to a new place where we don't know many people, and it will take time to get plugged in to the community here.

I guess one of the things this change is teaching me is how much I need to depend on God every single day. I consider one of the gifts God gave me to be faith, and I've only really doubted God once in my life (I know that's not typical of most 25-year-olds). I think a lot of it has to do with how God made me, but also with how my mom encouraged me to look at events in my life from an early age. I don't believe in coincidences. There have been too many things in my life that have just "worked out" for them to be a random chance. It's easy for me to see God working in my life, but I lack the self-discipline to regularly pick up the Bible and spend time focused on him without distraction. A year ago, when I was much, much busier, I justified my lack of discipline through everything I had going on. Looks like God's not letting me use that excuse anymore...

I was reminded of all of this when a former neighbor and friend from elementary school posted a link to a skit by The Skit Guys on YouTube. It's a great reminder about how God never said life would be easy, and that when things are hard it's for our own good. It's also a great reminder of how we should find our value in God, and not from the media or society we live in. Check it out at http://bit.ly/148Etz.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

For those of you that don't know, Aaron Sorkin is a genius when it comes to TV Shows. I like to watch TV, and there are a lot of shows I enjoy, but one of the things I love about his shows is their rewatchability. No matter how many times I sit down to watch Sports Night or The West Wing, I find myself laughing and crying along with the characters.

I recently decided to sit down and watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - his most recent show which NBC sadly canceled after one season. I hadn't seen it since it aired 2006-2007, but I was yet again reminded of how much I love Sorkin's writing. He has this great way of using music and visuals to create a moment that is just...perfect. Watch the Christmas episode of Studio 60 if you want to see what I mean. He does it in his other shows, too, although more often in the West Wing than Sports Night.

I also love the way Sorkin uses dialogue to drive the show. Thinking back to the West Wing, there are a lot of conversations that could easy drag, but he writes the script in a way that keeps the audience interested. I'm not a TV writer or expert by any means, but I can tell you that the words he chooses along with the timing of delivery are what make his shows stand out.

The other thing Sorkin does that I absolutely love is make characters that completely disagree with each other, and yet respect and care about each other -- an example of this is Ainsley Hayes (a very smart, savvy Republican) in the West Wing. The main way he does this in Studio 60 is through Harriet Hayes (I just noticed they have the same last name), a fairly conservative Christian that holds true to her faith, despite her life and work on a late night comedy show in Hollywood. I really like that all of the other characters on the show respect her faith and even stand up for her when smaller characters say cruel, hurtful things to her, even though they don't believe in God at all. I also really like that Studio 60 brings up a lot of questions about God, and Harriet doesn't always have an easy answer. We don't know why God chooses to do things a certain way, and why he doesn't just swoop and fix everything when things get really hard. When Harriet gets stuck and doesn't know why, I love that she says she doesn't know. From my experience, faith isn't about knowing all the answers - it's the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see (see Hebrews 11:1).

I wouldn't say that Studio 60 is a very religious show, but it does bring up a lot of questions that people have about God, and I think that's good. Asking questions is good, but it's also important to look for the answers in appropriate places. If I had specific questions about fish, I wouldn't go to Blockbuster to try to find out more. All they'd be able to do is give me the Little Mermaid or Finding Nemo - great movies, but unlikely to answer my questions.