Gods grading system!

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

 I know people who would love to see me fail! Whenever we start something new in education, there are many people who would love to see it fail. In all fairness, we have had a bunch of a FADS over the years. It's hard to shift. One of our newest program is using a standards based grading philosophy. Students keep working at understanding a standard until they master it. They get to "Fail" until they complete the standard successfully. The detractors say this is not helpful and students will not try and not learn if they just get to redo things. I see students putting out so much more effort and genuinely caring about their education. 

I am so glad God doesn't grade like we do in most schools. Our lives are filled with failures. Satan loves to see them. Yet, our God is patient enough to let us try over and over until we finally get it. We can and will sin. God forgives us. God give us 70 times 7 times to forgive. He gives us instruction along the way and re teaches us daily. God would make a great educator. He's not looking to see us fail. He takes no joy in our failures and wants to see us succeed. So much is his desire that he gave his son so we might overcome our sinful failures and spend eternity with him. I love his grading scale!

Are you happy with your job?

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:12 NIV)

I want to serve with a willing spirit in everything I do. I heard a colleague lament the fact they were arriving at school for the start of the week. I just don't understand why people work jobs they hate. To wake up everyday and dread going to teach is beyond me. If you don't like what you're doing, do something else. Don't you think students can tell if a teacher loves their  job? I know they can also tell if you loath what you're doing. The attitude we take in completing our job is directly related to our success. Jesus is the center of our life and the joy we have with life.

 The joy of our initial salvation can only wane if we do not constantly build our relationship with the savior. We need a spirit willing to be used by him and listen to his calling. If our attitude is not good we will lose our joy. Call on God to renew your spirit, to restore the joy that brought you to Jesus. You have to love what you do in life and the center of that love needs to be Jesus. Being satisfied, happy with your job, your family, your circumstances in life is tied to your love of  Jesus. 

It's easy to forget where I'm going. The path that God has set before me gets overgrown with weeds of sin and I lose my way. I'm normal. My constant prayer is to restore the joy of my salvation. In other words, please Lord, clear the path for me. Then give me the willing heart to walk down that path with you and the joy of my salvation.

Our present evil age

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3-5 NIV)

These verses were written  2000 years ago and we are still living in "the present evil age" and a God is still rescuing us. 

I am always amazed by people who don't think the bible applies to their lives today. This amazing book written by God through his servants is just as real today as ever. If you really take the time to read and let the words sink into your heart and mind, you will be transformed. It's is the KEY to living life today, right now, wherever you are.

Our times are evil. Governments are corrupt, churches and followers of Christ are being persecuted. Our own country continues to tear down the family, our faith, and disregards human life. For 2000 years nothing has changed. Praise God he overcame the world 2000 years ago and he overcomes the world today. He gave his son so we might live! How can you not give God the glory. 

Who knew?

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. (Psalm 52:8 NIV)

I learned something tonight. I have read the Bible since I could read. I have read the story of Noah and the olive branch returned by the dove. I know of the mount of olives and I have eaten olives.  Yet, I really have known very little of the olive tree, until now.  This little tree is a key part of life in the Middle East. In Israel, this tree was used for food, shade, building, healing, and cooking oil. The tree itself is said to be indestructible. It can live through, heat, cold, drought, wet, fire, and many other extremes. Some trees have root systems that survive over 2000 years. It is truly an important symbol of God. 

When I rely on God, live by his will, I am just as indestructible as an Olive tree. I can not thrive on my own. Olive trees need the same hand of a God to thrive as I do. When I flourish it is always in the house of God. His presence and strength are transferred to my life like that of the Olive tree. Praise God for his love, mercy, grace, and strength.

My changing season!

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. (Psalm 19:1-3 NIV)

It's December 2nd and winter is drawing near. The temperatures are falling, the leaves are gone. Christmas lights are up and the house is nearly decorated to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's all beautifully choreographed year after year. I love the seasons and the change. This might be strange coming from a biker who longs for the open road. But, I learn to appreciate the warmth of a summer ride because of the dark, cold winter. I also love the beauty of snow falling and the fury of a blizzard. It makes the freshness of that first Spring day even sweeter. The tests and challenges of winter speak to my heart. Winter reveals much. It reveals it without words but it speaks clear.

God speaks to us with the relentless changing of the seasons. My life is his and he leads me through the same changes that mark the seasons. My seasons are not ushered in by the changing weather, they come from the march of time. While I was laboring yesterday putting up Christmas lights, fighting the ladder, and my patience, I came to realize I'm not going to be able to do this forever. After my 15th trip to the attic, I realized my body can't handle these events as it once did. Like winter, the seasons of my own life are changing. I tire more easily, my fatigue after 5days of Thanksgiving travel was nearly more than I could bear. Yet, as I end  this long extended weekend, I appreciate even more the joy of this holiday season. I don't anticipate this being my last, but I have seen more than I have ahead of me. I appreciate and Praise God for the joy of this season. I praise him for my glorious life and the many blessings I have been given. 

It is with great joy and satisfaction that I anticipate the changing of the seasons in my life. I expect to have many more years of life on this planet, but the seasons of my life ARE changing, I feel it in my heart as well as my bones! I do not fear the changes ahead of me. I don't look at them with sadness. I look to them with the same excitement and anticipation I have for the onslaught of winter or the freshness of spring. Praise God for the certainty of time and the changes in our lives!