Who is Driving your Car?

So we watched one of those sermons today.  One that leaves you thinking and chewing on what you heard and realizing that you can say, "Wow, that was a good sermon!" and call it a day....or you can sincerely ask the Lord to let it penetrate and change your heart.  

While watching Francis Chan's sermon Why are we here? Meaning of life, Biblical Salvation, I had a couple things that seared into my brain cells ideas that I haven't thought of in a long time or maybe EVER.  

The first is a simple concept:   The idea that we are zooming around space, on a ball at thousands of miles per hour around a burning hot star 93 million miles away.  If we were just a tad closer, we'd burn up in seconds, and if we were farther, we'd freeze to death.   And we think we are in control.   

The thought was that if today was your last day spinning around on this planet, how would God want you to spend your day?  How do you know it isn't?    Who are you living for---and will it matter in 100 years??

Secondly......imagine your life is represented by a car.     You are trucking along and encounter Jesus.  Some people think he is nice to have around for emergencies---when they are sick or in financial distress....so they put Jesus in the trunk.  

Other people want Jesus as a closer part of his life....so they invite him into the back seat of their life.  They can chat and hang out, but nothing too committed.   

Others ask Jesus to be in the passenger seat.  They really want to chat and have fun together. They even want intimate conversation and sharing,  but they still want to be the one steering the wheel and deciding what to do and where to go with their lives.    (This reminds me of the old bumper sticker that was around in the 70's and 80's  "Jesus is my Co-pilot" )   (And I'm realizing how that goes against true-Christianity) 

Finally some realize how utterly pathetic they are in their own strength, get out of the driver's seat, ask God to drive and steer the car, and give Him full control.    

Chan challenges us to see where we are in that analogy.

Think about it a minute...where is Jesus in your "life car?"   

This led to a great discussion in our family about what salvation is ----and how is affects our whole lives.

I admitted that I feel Jesus IS in the driver's seat of my life, but that I had a tendency to grab the wheel and help him when I got nervous and lacked faith.     Anyone else relate?    Do we treat Jesus like a teen-aged driver?   

Let our prayer be like the famous Bluegrass song  "Jesus Take the Wheel"   and never touch it again.....let us have a pre-determined "YES, LORD!"    That means that before Jesus even asks, we have already said, "YES!" to whatever he asks of us!!!   

Review: Vid Angel (Movie Filtering)

I had to share about a website that has been an exciting discovery for our family.   It is Vidangel.
We feel that what we watch and allow our children to watch should not go against what we read in Scripture.  We don't want to watch things that glorify things that God hates.   There have been a number of great movies that we have chosen to not watch over the years because they included using the Lord's name in vain, have shown sex outside of marriage as okay, have shown the occult in a positive light, have included many 4-letter words etc.

It feels like a constant struggle as parents to know the "right" thing to do in so many situations.  I'm sure other parents will give me  aloud "Amen!"  

We typically screen movies by reading the reviews on Pluggedin .We have found this amazingly helpful, yet is often still falls short on modesty in movies.   (and with 3 teenage boys in our home, this is a very real struggle that they ask us to help them with).

We decided to test out Vidangel a few weeks ago, when we received an email offering us a free showing of any Star Wars movie.  That was prefect because none of our kids had seen a Star Wars movie yet.  We set the filters (which not many were needed I must admit) for Star Wars 4.   We were impressed with how nicely done the filtering was!  For most of the things, we were not even able to tell what was taken out or when.   As we progressed to Star Wars  5, 6, 1 and 2 we were increasingly thankful for the filters in many scenes.  (immodesty and foul language).  

The way it works is this....you "buy" the movie filtered as you wish for $20.   You watch the movie and if you "return" it (press one button when you are done)....they refund $19 to your account and charge your card $1.  If you love the movie and want to keep the filtered version....you just let them keep your $20, it's that simple.  It has worked seamlessly for 5 movies for us now....

The filters are great....they are very specific so you can choose which individual word/scene you want to filter.  If you want to filter the "S-word" but are okay with "H-words"  then you can filter accordingly.  You can filter or not filter violence---and they tell you each scene if you want to filter some but not all.

Anyway, check it out.....some of you think it's overkill...but I know many of you will appreciate the opportunity to protect your kids from junk in otherwise good movies!   VIDANGEL

Why Resolutions and Friends go so well together!

While pondering the concept of "New Year's Resolutions,"  I've come to realize that like-minded friends go a long way in ensuring that resolutions actually get carried out.

With 9 kids---4 teens, a toddler, a preschooler and 3 in between, I often feel like there is not enough time in the day or "me" to go around.     It's easy to focus on the current needs right in my face like meals, school and laundry.  That narrow focus makes it harder to see other things.  Enter  "other things"----(not less important mind you, just not screaming for attention things):    Reading through the Bible,  exercise....eating healthy.   THAT is where friends come in so handy!

I don't need accountability to make sure my family gets fed or that  laundry or homeschool gets done.  That is the backbone of most of my days.  I DO need encouragement to stay faithful with sitting down and making Bible reading a priority, exercise a priority and eating healthy a priority or they can sometimes get pushed aside.

I'm so thankful for a few close friends who ask me in December, "What should we do together to read the Bible this year?"  This has been happening for a number of years now....and I'm so thankful.   Spending time in God's Word is so life-giving and necessary...and it's SO MUCH more fun to read with other sisters and share the treasures that God is showing each of us!!

If you have an area of your life that you need to focus more on but keep failing at.....find a good friend who can come along side you...she probably needs the encouragement and motivation as well.

"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."-Philippians 3:13-14