01/25/08

It is kind of hard to believe that Christmas has already been a month ago!! January is almost gone..

Last night at Cats was wonderful. We had "PIT" seats and this time it was awesome!! If you have ever been to Cats, you know the cat characters come out through the crowd before the go up on stage. Well, I was on the end of the row and one came up beside me and scared the living tar out of me! HA!!! It cracked me and my brother up!! At the end, the "feisty" cat, Rumtumtugger, waved and blew a kiss at me when he came out for encore. lol I told Steve he had some competition from a cat. hee hee. I blew a kiss back. My brother seriously cracked up. It was a fun evening.

To top it all off, as I sat there I was thinking about my High School English teacher. I know that sounds crazy, but long ago (now over 20 years ago!) she told our class about seeing Cats and that she loved the play. Well, ever since then when I see Cats I think of her and tonight was no different. Tonight, when the main lights went up after the performance ended, I turned around and SAW my High School English teacher!!!!! I ran right up to her and about knocked over a couple of people in the process! HA!!! It was WONDERFUL to see her again... I know it has been ten years or more since I have seen her. We communicate every year through Christmas cards but that is about it. At first she didn't recognize me but it only took a few seconds and she knew me. We had been quite close. She was one of my all time favorite teachers... and still is. We talked for a few minutes and I wrote down all of my emails, blog, phone numbers for her because I want to see her again soon. Hopefully she is reading this... if so, HELLO, Mrs. Perry!!!! :) God was good to allow me to see her. She has been on my heart a lot lately... especially since I got her card at Christmas.

Today was a good day and busy. I had a parent bring in doughnuts for the class this afternoon. Let's just say that was one stinking good chocolate covered Krispy Kreme doughnut. Was that enough adjectives? Can you tell I enjoyed that thing A LOT???? The kids loved them, too. It was a nice treat. :)

Tonight Wesley has a sleepover with his little friend. I am excited for him and he is majorly excited. His friend should be here any minute.

Mikayla doesn't have anyone coming... that will need to be a separate post because this one is already long. lol I'll just say this... keep praying for Mikayla to get out of her "funk" with going over to friend's houses. Steve and I need the prayer as much as she does to know how to handle her.

My best friend is coming over in a bit for me to help her with some paper work she can't do since she has had surgery. I also need to hush and let you read below:


Finally have my devotion to share. :) I hope it is a blessing.... I created the photograph below and gave it to all of the teachers after I finished devotions. They all liked it a lot. You can click on it to make it larger. The "key verse" is where I had my focus.

"For Now We See Through a Glass Darkly...."

In our daily walk with the Lord, we can look back on the past and see how God has challenged us, broken us, uplifted us and comforted us. Most of the time when we are right in the middle of a "storm" we can't see why things are happening to us. Sometimes God shows Himself very openly to us through whatever it is He is allowing in our lives. Sometimes He wants us to search the scriptures so He can use those to speak His words.

Before school ends each year I go visit one of the special teachers who also has a love of pictures. We usually talk about art and cultures around the world and we always end up looking at pictures. We began to joke around at how people are like cameras in how they view certain things in life. (disposable, point and shoot, simple zoom camera, DSLR with removable lenses..)

I began to "chew" on those thoughts I had with my friend that day. I began to think of how our Christian walk with the Lord is like different cameras. The Lord brought this verse to my mind last fall as I continued to think on this theme.

I Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Cameras have glass in the lenses so I felt I could make this analogy work with the camera and our learning more and more about God.

1. Disposable camera - You have Christ in your heart but when the picture of Who He is comes out it is quite "grainy" like a photograph from a disposable camera. You know Him, but you don't really KNOW Him yet. We are not strong enough in our faith yet to understand why things happen to us in life. We are "babes in Christ" and need to be fed through His Word. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes longer to get out of this "camera" and move on to better equipment. We can "take pictures" but they don't come out like we had hoped.

2. Point and Shoot - We can get a better picture now of Who Christ is, but things still don't always come out as clear. We find that when we try to take a photograph with this type of camera our subject may still come out blurry. Sometimes we are so quick to "open and read" the Bible that we forget to really READ what God's Word is telling us. We open the Bible, read a passage and think "I've done my studying for the day." When, in fact, all we have is an overview. Nothing deep.... nothing personal.

3. Compact Camera with Zoom - We are now able to zoom in on Who Christ is. The picture is still getting better and we are making progress. There are still limitations on how far you can go with this type of camera. This is when we "open and read" but linger longer on what the Lord is trying to show us. We are understanding the concepts from God's Word more but our lives still can get shaky because we are still not grounded in the word and getting a full understanding of WHO HE IS.

4. SLR with interchangeable lenses - this camera has the ability to go very detailed into a photograph. The only problem is, you have to know HOW to use it. We have our Bibles to read but until we put on the correct lens and know our "equipment"... God's Word... we are still not going to have great pictures. Once we start knowing our "equipment"... hiding God's Word in our hearts and APPLYING it to whatever we are facing, God will take that "camera" and make beautiful pictures.

Does that mean all pictures now come out great? No, but you learn from your mistakes and go out and take more pictures. It is the same way with our walk with the Lord. Every day is not going to be wonderful... God never promises that. What He does promise is that He will be there every step of the way. When we make mistakes He helps us see what we have done wrong by using His Word. He causes us to put on our telephoto lens instead of our wide angle lens to see we need to search His Word deeper and continue to learn WHO HE IS.

Here is another point my photographer mentor added (thanks, Doug!) : "one would typically get first a "nice" camera (beginner) to learn on... it would have "ok" glass (lens). Then, one would grow into another level and arrive at a "newer" tool with "better" glass to see/capture images with. As the talent and knowledge comes from using that tool. Yet another "anchor point" comes and one gets a camera/lens combo that is just excellent... basically becoming transparent as one uses it to see things and record scenes.. and as you look through the excellent quality in the new glass/lens you are seeing much clearer, more detail, and with more clarity. Then, you look back and see how much you have grown with the same "tool", but with more advanced and polished piece that comes closer to your actual eyesight than "way back when." It is the quality put into the glass that gives the picture depth and sharpness... the "meaning" of the picture is up to you.

That "tool" above is God's Word. Once we search the scriptures and truly study them, we find that we become more like Christ. We see through a glass darkly at first, but for those of us who know Christ as our Savior, we will see Him FACE TO FACE. Now, we know in part only because we are not able to know everything God does in our lives. One day, in Heaven, we will see Him face to face and all of that He has done in our lives will be revealed.

We will always need to learn and grow in Christ. None of us will ever completely master being a Christian... it is a continual process. We may reach "mountain peaks" in our walk with the Lord, but there is always something new we can learn when we search the scriptures.

There are times we mistakenly "grab" for the wrong camera when faced with a situation. Sometimes our faith fails us and our picture of Christ and what He is trying to do comes out blurry or grainy. God isn't the one Who changes... We are the ones that have to remember which camera to hold.

Another point is that there is no good photograph without the right light. Christ is our light for the "photographs" we take with His Word: John 12:46 - I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
John 8:12b - I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

"The scriptures will never be mastered by man. We can never exhaust the treasures of God's Word." - unknown author to me at this time...

Job 23:10 - but he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.


I pray that this brings something to your life or walk with the Lord as I type this out. God's Word will never return void. May it be a wellspring of water to a thirsty soul.