Sanctification

In life, there is always opportunity for sanctification. The opportunities come is many forms and are varied in the vessels that bring them to our doorstep. But what of sanctification and is it really necessary? Can't we get along w/o it?

I guess the first verse that comes to my mind when I here the word sanctification is 1 Thes. 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:... It's God's will for our lives that we be sanctified- on a continual path to Christ-likeness. Was Jesus' road here on earth paved smooth and in a comfortable seat? Then why would we expect our road to be smooth and should we even want it to be that way?

So what are some areas that God has been allowing sanctification in my own heart this past little while?

The leaders that we are to submit too are not always exactly like we would want them to be. In fact, they are often more like Nero than we think they should be, but they are not Nero, and even if they were, God has called us to pray for them and submit where they are not asking us to sin. We want justice when it comes to someone else, but we want mercy ourselves. Go out of America and then return and you will see that we have it pretty good here. Go away from the church and come back and you will see that we have it pretty good here. Think about a society with no laws and you will appreciate the inconvenience of law enforcement officers.

When friends do things that don't seem to be in line with continued sanctification we want them to get it the first time and move on. Do we? We don't even want to have to tell them they are going the wrong direction, and yet this is part of their sanctification process and ours. We must tell them where they are erring and pray that they accept the admonition. They may accept it and they may not- this doesn't negate our responsibility to go to them and this does then not give us the green light to be cynical that they will respond the same way when we approach them the next time. This also doesn't take away our responsibility to do the right thing when people don't reciprocate. This is hard to do- all of these things.

When we are trying to do the right things- the good thing- and people completely do the wrong thing in return. This is also hard. When we are doing what we believe God has called us to do and others mock, or slander us for our efforts, it's very easy to say "Ok- if you're going to act like that I'm not going to do my part anymore". That's not sanctification. Jesus- our Chief Example- was doing the perfectly right thing and they hung Him on a cross. He knew what was coming and He didn't say, "If you're going to treat me this badly and not appreciate what I am doing for you, then I am not going to do it". Thank-you Jesus for not having that attitude or we would be in a very bad place w/o any way to escape. Our responsibility is to always do what we believe God is calling us to do, no matter how hard it may seem and no matter how completely wrong others are. Our responsibility it to God and He will hold us accountable for our actions, not theirs.

These are just a few examples of things I have been continually challenged with just recently and I am pretty sure that these areas are going to come back again in the future. We must always look to Jesus' example of the way we are to live.

Pranksters Identified

I have been given the path of knowledge to the pranksters and am looking for a punishment that is equal to the infraction.

So the total rolls used on our property was 18 and some Vaseline on car door handles. What the perps didn't know was that our home was to be appraised that same day- "It's always fun until someone gets their eye poked out".

So I am looking for some help from the audience as to what I do to these little miscreants. One suggestions is to have them weed around our house for a month of Saturdays. I want to here your creativity. Ready GO!

Pranksters

I don't like pranks, so I don't generally prank others. I think wasting what God has given us stewardship over is foolish. I really don't like being TP'd and I have taken fingerprints off of the TP all over our yard and I have traced it back to someone's nose, but have not located the nose yet.

I will post pictures of the event later- when it is light. But- all that being said, I did laugh pretty hard when I saw it. I don't want this to be a trend and I actually would like to congratulate someone for making me laugh at a prank. The funny part to me was the saying they put in the lawn- not the TP-ing. "Laminate Rules". Now that is funny!

 

Month Update for PG

Well- even though I gave you a preview yesterday, I will finish it off this morning.

God allowed us to have our best sales month since Aug. of 2007. 2007 was an amazing year and Aug. was the biggest month of that year- so nothing to be down about even in that.

What an amazing God we serve- Who give generously to those who don't deserve, supplies more than our needs and is able to show the world that even when things are not what we think they should be, we still must trust His plan.

We are having to hire people to keep up- what an awesome "problem" to have. Thanks for all your prayers and please keep praying.

Pray that we would not get so focused on business that we forget the One Who gives it to us in the first place.

Rehearsing God's Goodness

I just returned from Italy and am back at work today. Yesterday was a long day, as when flying west you have to make up the time change, so I had a 33 hour day. But when considering how they used to travel- by boat, or horse- this was a really fast trip.

Italy was good and we are putting containers together to ship here. It's always good to see what they have that I haven't seen or that is moving more briskly for us.

While I was gone the team here really put together a nice sales week and I believe that God is going to allow us to have our largest sales month since Jan. '08, and if today goes well it may even be better than that. Regardless of the numbers God as really blessed us these pass few months with many sales and how can we help but praise Him for His work on our behalf.

With that in mind- I am struck by the fact that in both Moses' and Joshua's life, when they knew they were going to die, they got all the people together and verbally rehearsed all the amazing things that God had done for the children of Israel. They had verbal tradition to pass these stories on to the generations that followed and that is what they used. They were faithful with what God had given them and even though we have so many other forms of passing God's faithfulness on, we must not lose this form.

Reminding others of what God has done for His people should never get old and should always be on the fronts of lips. We must be quick to praise Him for what He is doing today and for what He did yesterday.

Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf and please keep it up.

Internaional Business

I'm currently in Italy looking for more exciting material. I am traveling w/o T and while there are always times in marriage that it is difficult, I do miss her when I am out and she is home. We do have some awesome partners here in Italy who take very good care of us with regard to our slabs. Just very nice people to have as partners.

PG is having another good week w/o me, which is awesome. I will give you an update tomorrow for the week.

Please pray for the situation in Ethiopia. While I don't know all the details it does sound like there in more corruption going on there and this is so discouraging. Without God to protect the kids they are defenseless and we can only rest on His promise to care for orphans. Pray for wisdom on the human side and pray that He would quickly come to their aid.

Quote of the Week

Teresa- watching the Office as Michael and Dwight are standing in the cemetery-
"Are they at a dead person's grave?"