Thursday, May 22, 2008

5 feet from a robbery!

I live in the city... Detroit....
Hamtramck is in the middle of Detroit.
And yeah... it's CITY!

But TODAY we were in the SUBURBS...
(yeah... the "BURBS")
today... using the annoying "self check-out" line
(I always get something that doesn't have a price on it!)
when I hear a lady scream...
"THAT MAN STOLE MY PURSE!"

I spin around to see the robber
sorta joggin' past me.... about 5 feet away.
My first reaction was to run towards him,
I think I coulda tackled him (he was kinda
skinny) or at the very least, tripped him...
I REALLY wanted to....
but I had two of my younger kids with me...
He zig-zagged through a few customers who
stood there staring at him....
"Shove Him!" or "SOMETHING!!!" geez!

The "not-so-friendly" clerk who had just made
a few snotty remarks to me just moments ago...
stood there in a frozen stupor! "CALL SOMEONE!"
"HIT A BUTTON.... DO SOME-THING!" The
thief had probably brushed shoulders with her...
"HEY! WAKE UP... Aren't you TRAINED FOR THIS?"
"RUN... HE'S SLOW!"

I wanted to.... my mind was racing... I wanted to kick off
my flip flops and charge full speed ahead (stop laughing!)
but I had the kids! And I didn't know what he had.
So, as he ran past other customers and escaped into
the parking lot & beyond, I looked to the employee who
had been so "all-knowing" just moments ago. Nothing.
It took her a while to even pick the phone. Sad.

I'd rather be in the city.... where you must stay on our toes!

The lesson?

The battlefield is the place where crap happens.
But you live expectantly. Knowing that spiritual junk is going
on, you live ready and prepared to deal with it!
(Prepared ONLY cuz JESUS lives in ME...
and HE IS the answer! )

I wanna stay where the action is... never knowing who's gunna
walk into the middle of a Bible Study, weeping with
repentance and begging for prayer!

You'll never know when someone is gunna ask you
in front of the group if they should stop having sex
since they're not married;
You never know when a mom will ask if it's OK
that her 9 year old daughter is promised in marriage to a
much older muslim cousin of her father's... and he already
has a few other wives! (Not over seas... right HERE!)

You never know when a grandma is gunna spill her guts
cuz she suspects her relative is linked to a recent murder,
but she can't prove it and the police are cutting that person a deal;
or when a person causally tells you that the porn on his/her
computer is now deleted cuz God is doing a great work!

AWESOME!
This is the battlefield.
I don't wanna be lulled to sleep by comforts (of ANY kind).
I wanna stay where it's difficult, challenging and AMAZING!
I wanna be where I HAVE to depend on JESUS at all times!

Thank you, JESUS, for sending me to the city!
(there's too crime in the suburbs anyway! hee hee)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(All events and sencerios ARE real... and if this
jolted your heart then you'd better do one of the following..

PRAY for the ministry and quite possibly listen to God...
maybe he's leading YOU here!... so pray some MORE!)

Saturday, May 10, 2008

MONO?

MONO?

Not the sickness!

I'm speaking of the opposite of "multi".

"Multi" pops up in all sorts of situations...
  • multicolored
    multilingual
    multipurpose
    multicultural
    multitude
    multiplication
    etc... etc... etc....

    Multi means MORE, MUCH, MANY!
    (all words that our society likes... even desires!)

    Multi-tasking has become my constant friend...
    and enemy!

    Of course it's wise to multi-task -we shouldn't just sit on top
    of the dryer waiting for our clothes to get dry (Kyle!!)
    Doing two or more things at once can be
    extremely productive... in some cases!

    However, I recently read an article that got me
    thinking and prayingabout MONO-Tasking!
    Some things are just meant to be done on their own!
    Here's a few...

    -talking to God
    (we MUST have alone time, then we can
    "pray without ceasing")

    -reading the Word!

    -playing with my kids

    - sitting down
    (sometimes I just need to do nothing!)

    - dinner (just gotta have uninterrupted time with the
    fam several times a week)

    - projects and larger chores
    (For Example: if I wait to wash the curtains
    until I can wash the windows...
    and then wait to wash any windows until I can
    wash the windows in the whole house...
    well, you can see why things stay dirty!)

    But, if I will MONO-TASK and simply decide
    that it's OK to just wash the windows in the livingroom
    this afternoon... and maybe the kitchen window later next week...
    then I just may end up with CLEAN windows
    AND curtains in the near future!

    Does that make sense?

    Even if it doesn't... that's OK. I'm gettin' it!

    I believe that God is showing me other areas that
    shouldn't be "multi-ed", but rather "mono-ed."

    Thank You, Jesus, for being so practical!