The King's Table

I just got done fixing my lunch~a hot ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread. Now that might sound kind of ordinary and boring to most folks, but it’s pretty great for me. Living in China, “ordinary” foods are not always available. I can remember 7 years ago when you couldn’t buy cheese or sandwich meat. Whole wheat bread is even a new development! You might have only found cheese at an expensive foreigner banquet for dignitaries or special foreign guests and you’d need to know someone to get an invitation to such an event.

I was reading 2 Samuel 9 today, which was the story of King David and his decision to care for any living relatives from the house of Saul, David’s former enemy. There was one crippled son of Jonathan named Mephibosheth, still living in a far away place called Lo Debar. King David told a servant go get Mephibosheth and bring him to the palace as a gesture of good will for Jonathan’s sake. Poor Mephibosheth! He must’ve been terrified to think that he was being summoned to King David’s palace, especially knowing the history between David and his grandfather, King Saul. In fact, his grandfather had repeatedly tried to kill King David and prevent him from taking the throne. Undoubtedly, Mephibosheth knew that the common protocol of the day was to kill all the living relatives of the former King, but he had no choice...he had to go to the palace to face the music. Instead of getting the hatchet, Mephibosheth was invited to eat at King David’s table for the rest of his life. Even though Mephibosheth was poor, crippled and had an infamous lineage, he was treated as a son of the King.

Sometimes I feel like a Mephibosheth. I am poor. As a language student I don’t have a regular job that helps me pay the bills or buy the groceries. I am dependent on the kindness of others and more importantly on the goodness of the one I call King. I am in many areas “crippled” and undeserving of an invitation to eat at the King’s table on a daily basis, but He in His grace makes that invitation to me every day! He provides everything I need and then some. He allows me the blessing of His company and freely offers me things that I could never obtain myself. In His presence I am not regarded as unworthy, poor, crippled, or outcast. I am a daughter of the King and as such entitled to all the benefit that go with the title.

When I focus on who I am in the eyes of the King, I am overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and peace. I can daily pull myself up to the bounty that He affords me and thank Him...not only for who He is, for His love and provision for me, but also for this delicious hot ham cheese on whole wheat...which I am about to eat!

New Rear-View

Nowhere else in the world are females as obsessed with their butts as they are in North America. Our butts are literally the butt of numerous jokes, some of which I find hysterical and some of which are just plain bad. In my case, the truth is painful. I do indeed have Dutch Butt disease. Although it is annoying and hereditary, (Thanks Grandma!) it is not terminal. It often causes me to have rear-end collisions and what I mean by that is that my rear-end is almost always at fault for knocking something off a table or bumping into someone that most would consider to be at an acceptable distance away. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had one of those built in censors they put in the new cars? You know, the ones that show you how close you are to something behind you and beep when you’re just about to hit it? That would be stellar! No more embarrassing apologize or red faces, just a sweet smile as I passed by without incident. We have rear-view mirrors in cars for reasons. Sometimes it’s necessary for us to look back so we can adjust as we go forward.

For some time now, I have made it a habit not to look at my backside while getting dressed. My thoughts go like this: “It’s back there and I don’t see it so it doesn’t matter!” This kind of thinking is what has caused some of my weight problems today. It’s called denial. I had the same feeling about back fat and its unsightliness. I only had to confront the issue when I could no longer breathe properly after putting on my bra. Genetically speaking, I already have a freakishly large back (Thanks, Mom!) and have to use a bra extender, (available at the fabric store for anyone who is interested) but when my bra extended needed a bra extender, I had to face the facts. My back fat was taking on a life of its own! The rearview does matter and effects the the way I function. Yes, it’s embarrassing to say this aloud, but if I never get real with myself, nothing will ever change. I will always be fat and I’m not willing to go on being like this.

The Apostle Paul is one of my favorite biblical authors. Although in Philippians 3, he was talking about a completely different subject (losing everything dear to him to follow hard after Christ), his words and their applications are good ones. Early on in the chapter, he says that we should not put any confidence in the flesh (specifically the good parts of our lives) but we should realize that it’s not all about us. It’s about Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27) Paul is saying that he’s had all the wrong motives for feeling superior to others, and for being in denial about his faults and shortcomings. He’s aware that he’s not where he should be or wants to be, but he’s determined not to dwell on the reality of what is past and keep going forward. He’s not saying don’t look back. Instead, he’s saying not to dwell on our past accomplishments or failures but to focus on the goal ahead while keeping our eyes on the Source of our strength and accomplishment. He said it this way in Philippians 3: 12-14
“Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take ahold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do; Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Everyone has something in their rear-view mirror that they would rather not look at. They have areas of their past that are effecting them in negative ways, but it doesn't have to be that way. I say, look at them and let them be the motivation you need to make the change! You can do it...No if, ands, or buts about it!

Days of Discouragement

I know I’m not the only one who at times feels discouraged. Today was one of those days. I didn’t sleep well (again), the sky was gray with clouds of pollution, the air was a mass of sticky humidity, and in spite of my best efforts, nothing I did to prepare for class was sticking in my brain. I should’ve known better than to step on the scale for my mid-week weigh in. Continuing on with everything else that was out of sync, the scale reported that I had gained 2 pound!!! What the heck?? I wanted to throw up my hands and say “Forget it! I’m doing all the right things and nothing seems to be working. What’s the point?” I felt like a complete failure. Sound familiar?

Galatians 6:7-9 says this:
Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. Those who sow to please their sinful nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

This principle is good not only for the spiritual part of our lives but also in the physical areas. God has a design and an order for how things happen, even though it’s not always in the time frame we think it should be in. This is not to say that these principles of sowing and reaping are set in stone. We don't always reap the good or the bad consequences of our actions. We still live in a broken world and things are not always going to be fair. Jesus himself said that things would be unfair, but that we should press on in love regardless of the fairness or unfairness of the circumstances. (Matt 5:44-45) Whether it’s people I am discouraged about or situations that I have not control over, my job is to press on and love in the process.. The Chinese have a specific saying for this. They often yell it at sporting events or to encourage each other. They say “JiaYou! JiaYou! (Gi as in giant...Yo!) It literally means “Add Oil or Keep Going!” As a Christian, I find this not only encouraging but interesting. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is often represented by oil. The Oil of the Spirit is a soothing balm to heal wounds, used to anoint someone for service, or poured out as supernatural power to help someone accomplish a difficult task. When we’re discouraged, we need to hear the Holy Spirit's voice saying, “JiaYou!JiaYou!” and to remember that we are not in this alone. He is walking with us even in our times of weariness and we will reap the rewards of our labor...if we don’t give up!

Unhindered

In English figures of speech are so common that we don’t even think about how they sound to non-native speakers. For example, we say someone is crying or laughing their head off, talking your ear off, freezing their fingers off, or working their butt off. In all these examples, the idea is that some action is so extreme that it creates an extreme reaction. Sometimes when I’m exercising, I feel like I’m sweating my butt off, but in actuality, nothing is really happening. Wouldn’t it be it great if we could really have our butts fall off from exercising? That would make me exceedingly happy! It would mean my extreme effort was paying off big!
In 2 Samuel Chapter 6, we see David and his men finally bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to the City of David after an earlier misstep that landed the Ark in the household of Obed of Edom. David was so overjoyed to be reclaiming the Ark and bringing it to its rightful place in the city that he “danced before the Lord with all his might.” His dancing was so extreme that he “danced his clothes off!” Now that’s unhindered! No one seemed to have a problem with it except his wife, Michal, the daughter of Saul. She “despised him in her heart” because she was embarrassed that he got down to his tunic in front of the people, and especially in plain sight of common slave girls. She considered his behavior vulgar and undignified. I love David’s response!

21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

Isn’t that the way it usually goes. We do something extravagant out of love for God and someone close to us has to give us grief. We worry about what others might say about our “out there” displays of love or faith. David on the other hand could’ve cared less about what his wife thought, because his focus was in the right place. He was celebrating before the Lord. Everything else in his mind and in his world disappeared. He was dancing his butt off, unhindered and unashamed...and promising to be even more undignified in his worship than he had already been! That’s the way I want to be! It’s been a long time since I danced my butt off before the Lord, undignified, unhindered and unashamedly giving Him praise for the great life I have. Maybe it’s time I did that. Why don’t you join me? Here’s a link to Youtube for a song from the band Unhindered, The song is called “I am Free.” Come on! Let’s dance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znMzgnR4oZE&feature=related

Grouch Zone-Feed Attendant Before Entering

I don’t know about you, but when I get too hungry, I turn into a real grouch! It starts off with a little rumble in my stomach. After about a half hour of ignoring it, I start to feel a headache coming on and I get a little nauseated. I feel kind of weak as well. If I wait much longer, my thinking really get impaired. I can’t process information as quickly and my brain feels like it’s in a cloud of cotton candy. It’s pretty fuzzy up in there. At times like these, it’s almost too late. If I’m out and have to go to a restaurant, I can’t even make a decision about what I want to eat. My brain has already checked out. All I want to do is chew someones head off. No one should ever let themselves get to that point. I’m not saying to feed the tiger in your belly every time it growls, but allowing your hunger to get out of control and create a hunger monster out of you is not the answer either. We have to pay attention to what our bodies are saying and be sensitive to maintaining healthy balance. That takes discernment and wisdom.

In I Kings 17: 8-16, Elijah went to a place called Zarephath of Sidon and did as the Lord told him to by asking a widow with a son to bring him some water and some bread. At that time there was a long and severe drought in the land, so food and water were very scarce. The widow certainly had been effected by the drought and was obviously very poor...not to mention extremely hungry. She told him that she only had a handful of flour and a little oil that she planned to make some bread with so she and her son could eat it and die! Pretty dire straits, I’d say! But Elijah told her not to be afraid and first go home to make him some bread, then make some bread for herself and her son. He promised that if she did this, the Lord would provide for her and her son until the rain came again. Can you imagine the nerve of this prophet, asking a poor, starving, destitute widow to give him her last bit of water and food first and then believe that God would provide more for her to feed herself and her son? That was quite a request! Knowing how I get when I’m famished and facing situations far less stressful that poverty, starvation, and death, I wonder how I would’ve handled Elijah’s request. I wonder if I could’ve had the same trust and grace she had. Somehow I sort of doubt it. I probably would have come after him with one of those sticks I was collecting for the fire and spouted off some choice words about his man parts being made of steel. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been pretty.

It’s hard to keep a positive attitude about anything when we’re hungry. We are physically at a disadvantage, our blood sugar is probably low and our mental acuity is usually compromised. That being said, we need to show grace in the times when we do find ourselves hungry and crabby. We need to do our part in the planning beforehand so that doesn’t have to happen, but trust that in those rare times, the Lord will provide the resources and the time that we need to eat regularly and properly so we don’t have to become hunger monsters.

What You See Is Not What You Get!

World’s First red-fleshed variety hits supermarket shelves.

Hot off the Press: http://mcxperi.wordpress.com/

From the outside it appears to be just another apple. But on deeper inspection the fruit reveals its true colours. Take a bite and you will find the Redlove’s distinctive hue runs all the way through to the core. It may look like a tomato, but this is the world’s first red-fleshed apple that has gone on sale in Britain. Not only is the apple said to be extremely tasty–it has a ‘berry nuance’-it is even healthier than your average apple as its red flesh is richer in antioxidants. The new fruit will even keep its colour after being cooked or pressed, producing cider that looks more like cranberry juice – or an unusual looking apple pie.It also has the advantage of not turning brown, making it better than normal apples as an ingredient in a fruit salad. The rosy-red apple has been grown without the use of genetic modification techniques. The Redlove is the result of 20 years of painstaking work by Markus Kobert, a Swiss fruit grower.Seed and sapling company Suttons has secured exclusive rights to sell the fruit trees. British supermarkets are expected to start selling them within the next few years. (via dailymail.co.uk) I copied this article because I found it fascinating. What we see on the outside is quite ordinary, and we assume that we know what's on the inside, but what you see is NOT what you get. It's so much more. I have often felt like this apple. I seem pretty ordinary on the outside. In fact, sometimes because I am overweight, the average person person lumps me into a predetermined category of the kind of person they expect me to be, and moves on. Guys are especially this way. They assume that fat is an indicator of some deep seated emotional deficit and run. Hey, part of that I get. It might even be in some ways partially true, and yeah, I agree that it's not the most attractive to look at, but what about grace and giving someone a chance to show their inner self?
In I Samuel 16 After King Saul disobeyed God and was told he would lose his throne, God told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse and anoint one of his sons to be the next King of Israel. Samuel thought for sure that Eliab the eldest son would be chosen, but God specifically told Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things that human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (v7) Then God told Samuel to choose the least likely of Jesse's sons for the job; someone no one expected~his youngest son David. David didn't seem to fit the idea of what a king should look like, but God saw David's insides. He knew David's character and his heart. God a knew that he would be the right one to lead the people of Israel. It would be a journey of character building and waiting before David would become King. It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen nonetheless~just as God determined it would.
I know that in this weight loss journey it is easy for me to look at my outward appearance in the mirror and agree with most of what society says about me...that I am overweight and not attractive. I know that my insides, my heart and my character still need work, too, but I need to keep reminding myself that God sees me as wholly complete, worthy, unique, special and a one of a kind...just like he saw David. Not because of who I am, but because of what he's already done to make me that way by the blood of Christ. Just like this new apple, I am distinctively colorful, rich in gifts and the painstaking work of my Creator. I am the apple of His eye and so are you. Today I can rest in confidence that the journey will end with success, as he prepares my inside and outside along the way.

Sniffing Out the Good Stuff!

There aren’t many people I know (except my daughter-in-law, Holly and my best friend’s daughter, Lindsay) that have a super sniffer like I do. For whatever reason, I have a nose that can detect even minute amounts of specific smells in the air. My crazy nose multiplies those tiny particles by 100, so that scents hit me faster and harder than most. It’s like a perpetual wave of smells are poised and waiting to ambush me. This is great when the scent is fragrant, but horrible when the scent is foul. For example, I can tell just by standing next to someone whether or not they have recently been in a Subway sandwich shop. The smell is unmistakable. If I get a whiff of a nasty smell, especially body funk, the scent stays in my nostrils for hours! I just can’t get rid of it. Smells also trigger memories in me like no other. I can still remember as a kid when my mom used to make boxed Chef Boyardee Pizzas and put the grated cheese on the top. To me, it smelled like baby vomit, so I would have nothing to do with eating it...thus I thought I hated pizza until the age of 12 when I discovered restaurant pizza. Yummy! Too bad I didn’t keep my first impression. It would’ve saved me hundreds over the years.

Our sense of taste and smell work together. Smells make things taste delicious or revolting. They cause us to want to devour something immediately or to run away holding our noses and trying not to get sick. Everyone who's ever had a cold knows, if you can’t smell it, you probably won't be able to taste it either...and seriously, what's the point of eating if you can't taste it? With my super sniffer I can easily fall into temptation because just a small whiff of baking bread or a sweet bakery cake can send me into a Pavlovian dog slobber, from which there is usually no turning back.It takes a lot of sacrifice to stop the snowball effect.

It’s interesting that the Bible actually has some things to say about smells and their relationship to sacrifice. In the Old Testament fragrant oil was used along with blood sacrifices as commanded by Levitical law.
2 Chronicles 13:11
-Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lamp stand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the LORD our God.

The Bible teaches that Jesus was a fragrant offering to God and we also are both fragrant incense to God and living sacrifices.
Ephesians 5:2-
Be ye therefore as followers of God, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ezekiel 20:41-
I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will show myself holy among you in the sight of the nations.

Before I became a real believer my attitude and behavior both stunk! They were a stench in God’s nostrils. There was certainly nothing sweet or fragrant about me that He should have wanted to love or embrace. I am so thankful that He knew the real me and brought me out from a place far away from Him to make me a clean, fragrant sacrifice to Him. I want to be so close to Him, to linger in His presence so long, that in the way I walk, talk, eat, and drink, I will have the unmistakable aroma of having been with Him. O Lord, let it be!