Let's be thankful

Last week as I walked to my car after work, I saw a man walking down the street, heading in my direction. He stopped at a SUV, bent down, and began to pull at something that appeared to be stuck under the tire. He yanked and yanked, and paying more attention to the car, I realized that the driver was present in the car. The driver finally pulled off, and whatever the man was trying to get was freed. By this time, I had reached him and noticed the man had an odor. What he had been trying to pull from underneath the car's tire was a shirt. The shirt looked pretty decent, and I assumed that the man was homeless or at least down on his luck. Whatever the case, he had the biggest grin on his face after picking up that shirt.

This man was so excited about a shirt he found on the ground. How many times do we disrobe and leave our clothes on the floor of our bedroom/bathroom? How many times do we forget about those clothes for periods of time until we need them again? How many times do we forget about the value of the people in our lives until we need them for something? Let's make sure that we show more appreciation for the things that we have, whether we spent our own money on them or someone else purchased them for someone else. I know we don't intentionally forget about things, but let's be more mindful of the people who don't have, and would be very appreciative of the things we sometimes unconsciously forget.

Take the time to day to make yourself aware of the things you do. Pick up your clothes/belongings, call someone that you haven't talked to in awhile. Be appreciative of who or what is in your life.

Something for all of us...

So here's the scripture that T and I have been focusing on, Psalms 37. This is the version from the Message Bible, enjoy!!

Psalm 37 (The Message Bible)
Psalm 37
A David Psalm
1-2 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings, and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get in on the best.
5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;he'll do whatever needs to be done:He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.
7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.
8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;God-investors will soon own the store.
10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;you'll stare at his once famous place and—nothing! Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,relishing a huge bonanza.
12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line.
14-15 Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They're out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog. A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—slapstick figures in a moral circus.
16-17 Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,
For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong.
18-19 God keeps track of the decent folk;what they do won't soon be forgotten. In hard times, they'll hold their heads high;when the shelves are bare, they'll be full.
20 God-despisers have had it;God's enemies are finished—Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,vanished like smoke in thin air.
21-22 Wicked borrows and never returns;Righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end;Stingy is cut off at the pass.
23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God;his path blazed by God, he's happy. If he stumbles, he's not down for long;God has a grip on his hand.
25-26 I once was young, now I'm a graybeard—not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he's out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
27-28 Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don't quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends.
28-29 Live this way and you've got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out. The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.
30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue. His heart pumps God's Word like blood through his veins;his feet are as sure as a cat's.
32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he's out for the kill. God, alert, is also on watch--Wicked won't hurt a hair of his head.
34 Wait passionately for God, don't leave the path. He'll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad, croaking pretentious nonsense. The next time I looked there was nothing— a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.
37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life;There's a future in strenuous wholeness. But the willful will soon be discarded;insolent souls are on a dead-end street.
39-40 The spacious, free life is from God, it's also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we're delivered from evil—when we run to him, he saves us.

God is trying to tell me something...ok, God, you have my full attention...

Today has just been one of those days. Today is a Monday for me, since I did not work yesterday, so everything is off, right off the bat. I was awakened at 7:05 am by my radio blasting 107.5 as loud as it could get. I rolled over, hit the snooze button, and went back to sleep. 7:15am rolled around and the radio came back on. Man, has it already been 10 minutes? I thought. It had felt like another hour of sleep to me. Once again, I hit the snooze button and tried to fall asleep. 7:25am came and I knew I had to get up. I rolled over, and started my daily routine of getting ready for work.

For the most part, my getting ready went off without a hitch. My khakis had been washed two days before and stuffed in the bottom of a bag, so I thought they would be completely wrinkled. They were actually wearable without putting an iron to them. Great, I thought, that just cut down some of my time. I finished getting ready while my husband got dressed as well and I noticed that my khakis were a little snugger than they had been last week. I had to catch myself from getting down about my size/weight. Instead, I grabbed my bag, grabbed my phone, and headed downstairs to get in the car.

After dropping T off at work, I headed to work myself. I decided to stop at Jewel to pick up a snack or two instead of trying to spend an arm and a leg on breakfast that wouldn't fill me up. Once I arrived at the grocery store, I parked, locked the car, and headed in. Before I could get to the grocer's door, I dropped my house keys on the ground. You may ask why I had those keys in my hand. Everytime I go into Jewel, I forget to take in my keys, which have a rewards card on it that earns me money towards gas. I think that is definitely worth carrying.

I pick up my house keys, and my car keys fall. Once again I lean over, this time hearing a snap and a rip. The zipper on my pants was in tack, but the hooks didn't feel right. I stand up, only to hear something else fall. My lip gloss compact had fallen from my pocket. I bent over and picked that up, stood up, and my wallet fell. Anyone who saw me probably thought I was a bumbling fool. I finally got everything in my hands, and shoved them all into my pockets. I touched the front of my khakis and realized that the hooks had ripped completely off. As I tried to zip them, I heard one of the hooks/eyelets hit the concrete. I looked down to see if I could find them, but no luck. So there I was, walking into Jewel, pants undone, pockets full, and the weight of my pockets pulling down my pants. I managed to grab everything I wanted before heading back to the car.

Once I arrived at work, I parked, and headed back down the street to the building. As I was walking, I felt something under my shoe. It felt like I was walking on tissue or some other material that was lightweight but noticeable under my foot. I looked down--and the sole of my shoe was halfway off of my shoe. I tried to get the sole to go back into place, but gave up and just ripped it off as I walked across the street to the front door of my job. I was definitely bothered by this, as I have only worn these shoes twice--once this past Saturday and today. I've had them for four years, but never could figure out with what to wear them.

Once I went to my desk and dropped my bag off, I headed to the lunchroom to place my beverages in the refrigerator. The whole time I was walking, I felt the absence of a sole on the bottom of my right foot. It was like I had shoes on with two different heights. Granted, the height difference is barely if at all noticeable to those around me, but I can feel the difference under my feet as I walked. I got to the lunchroom, dropped off my beverages in the bottom of the fridge, and headed back up to my desk.

The day went by quite uneventfully, just another day at work. About an hour ago, I went down to the lunchroom to retrieve my beverages. When I opened the fridge, I noticed that my bag had been moved to the other crisper at the bottom of the fridge and someone had replaced my bag with their own. On a normal day, I would have probably gotten irritated at the fact that someone went out of their way to move my bag because of their own need to have some type of consistency. I would have thought, really? They REALLY need to move my bag just so they can put their bag in the same place they put it everyday? Is it really going to kill them to put their bag in another place, or SHARE the compartment even? But I didn't think any of those things. I just smiled, grabbed my bag, and headed back up to my desk.

I don't know what God is trying to tell me today. I just know there's something in the things that have happened. Maybe he just wanted to see if for once I could just not be bothered by what I would see as everything going wrong. I have, in the past few months--even days--been overwhelmed by different things which have made me think that so many things are going wrong. Finances, housing, weight, etc. have made me question myself and I have sometimes gotten entirely too flustered over things that could turn back around for the good at any moment.

Today was my day to show God what I'm made of and I think I did pretty good. I didn't get upset about my khakis--I just made a mental note to find my other pair when I get home tonight. I didn't flip out about continually dropping my belongings in the grocer's parking lot--I just kept picking things up and kept it moving. I didn't go nuts about my shoe falling apart--I just made adjusments and kept walking. I didn't get an attitude about someone moving my things in the fridge--I smiled and went and enjoyed my beverages.

By golly, I think I'm growing!!! I think that I am finally learning, through everyday mishaps, exactly what God expects of me!!! Although all these unexpected things happened today, I just kept it moving. Maybe because I made a mental note and texted T about reading Psalms 37 and followed through, I don't know. But I definitely recognize that today was an unexpected day, and I handled it pretty damn well. : )

To tithe or not to tithe, that is the question...

I've noticed that there are people that continually question the church,its leaders, and their intentions but don't seem to have done their homework before opening their mouth. I am in no way an expert on the bible, but when I don't know something, I do my research.

Many people have questioned the need for tithing in the church. I have heard arguments ranging from "nowhere in the bible does God speak about tithing" to "the preacher just wants the tithes so that he can pay for his new Benz" to "if they believe God will provide, why do they have to ask for money?" Anyone who has not thoroughly studied the bible or at least made an attempt to uncover some answers to their own questions through the bible could pose any of the sample questions I provided above.

Dictionary.com defines tithe as follows:

–noun

1.	Sometimes, tithes. the tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like.

2.	any tax, levy, or the like, esp. of one-tenth.

3.	a tenth part or any indefinitely small part of anything.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to give or pay a tithe or tenth of (produce, money, etc.).

5.	to give or pay tithes on (crops, income, etc.).

6.	to exact a tithe from (a person, community, parish, etc.).

7.	to levy a tithe on (crops, income, etc

–verb (used without object)

8.	to give or pay a tithe.

There are in fact, 18 total times in which tithing is discussed in the Bible. There are a couple of scriptures that deal with those example questions I posed in the previous paragraph.

Leviticus 27:30 (NIV)
30 A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

The word tithe comes from an old English word meaning tenth. Tithing, then, is giving back to God a tenth of one's increase. Crops and agriculture were and still are considered a form of currency. Other forms of currency include various forms of cash from different places around the world. Some of those currencies include pesos, yen, pounds, dollars, to name a few. Others would say that tithing is not always monetarily valuable. Some venture to say that the giving of time, talent, and resources is part of tithing. What God has blessed you with, he wants to see a return on that gift. He wants NO talents to go wasted or untapped. Whatever the main currency was then and now, God is due the first tenth, and expects us to live off of the other ninety percent. Tithing is basically giving to God a percentage of your increase, or your profit. It's the return God gets for investing in you.

Malachi 3:10-11 (NIV)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the LORD Almighty.

Let's get this clear now. I believe that the church is the people that gather in God's name, not the building. I believe that people can gather anywhere and still be the church. But the building that houses the church folks--wherever it is--cannot run on prayer alone. Like any other building, bills need to be paid, lights need to be kept on, and staff need their paychecks.

God's initial investment in you has yielded a profit, and God wants to see a return on his investment. That return comes in the form of taking care of his storehouse. The food that He speaks of in Malachi 3:10 is both figuratively and literally. By bringing in the tenth/tithe of your profit and giving it to God, you are also providing something that may not have been otherwise available. Without church (people) providing tithes in all its forms, the building in which they gather would sustain damage, decay, and eventual collapse.

Tithes are important in taking care of the church (people). Part of God's storehouse are the people that come to His storehouse. That is why there are both tithes and offerings. Tithes are what is demanded of us, what God deserves as a return in his investment. Offering is what we are willing to give above and beyond what God requires of us. It essentially a contribution, or donation to the storehouse, in addition to our tithes.

Matthew 23:23 (NIV)
23 Woe, to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites? You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Luke 11:42 (NIV)
Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practice the latter without leaving the former undone.

Both of these verses touch on the same matter. Yes, it is important to tithe, but we have to make sure we are tithing as well as upholding other laws God has set before us. We cannot forget the "more important matters of the law" (Matthew 23:23). We cannot uphold God's laws half-heartedly, nor can we pick and choose what we abide by and what we ignore. I know, this is SO hard to follow, I must admit that I've rationalized being disobedient on past occasions. But now that I'm older, I have recognized that those things I chose to ignore have definitely made an impact on my life and the way things have gone for me when I have been and am disobedient.

If God has blessed us with resources, be them time, talent, money, etc., He expects us to use them. That is tithing. Too many people get tied up in the concept of giving a church/pastor money and not thinking about all the things that need to be taken care of in the church house. Yes, God will provide and we shouldn't worry, but He provides through other's resources, money, time, talent, or otherwise.

There is so much I want to say. This conversation to be continued...