What wears a fur coat, but is always naked?

My buddy Paul bikes all winter long, most of us wait until the weather is pleasant to bike in. i am one of them. I used to bike in the winter, and then I got a drivers license and now I'm not so hard core, not like Paul. Anyway, I'm going to be biking again soon, and so will tons of my friends and people around town - either to get to work or leisure or whatnot but all the same, let's watch out for peeps on bikes. The weather has been getting awesome recently. I found this awareness add thing online for the people of London, but it's funny and cool. Check it!

Nice...

A Wonderful Gift

I was visited yesterday by one of the two sisters who had traveled into the wood, got lost and were saved by the Raspberry King. As merciful as she was in sparing that tiny tiny worm from the birds of the air (and Otto!!), she was also very merciful in gifting me with this wonderful cake, with a beautiful raspberry topping. My thanks to you two, and the Raspberry King.

The Frog

I wrote the previous entry a couple days ago and waited for permission from Fern to publish it, but during that waiting time I realized that I have been growing in Christ in just the way she was describing. And let me tell you, that it's very hard. Follow me for a moment... (you can hear the inspiration more from Mark) Genesis 19. That's a chapter that most all people, I can think of, have heard of - The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's a crazy thing, God just went and smote them, but justly so. God is good and just. And during the reading of Chapter 19 I began to realize that I have been a lot like Lot. In chapter 13 it's written:

"Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, ... Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom."

Notice that Lot didn't live in Sodom, but lived near there, and then in chapter 19 he greets some visitors and has them stay with him in the city. As you read on you see that he's not as righteous as his name might suggest. I feel like I am similar to that, I pick a direction, move there and slowly, slowly move into Sodom. How the hell does that happen?!
There's the example of the frog in the pot, chilling in the pot's water, and then someone turns the burner on and the frog doesn't know what's going on, boils and dies. Compare this to the frog that's dropped in the boiling water - whoa, it's hot he says and jumps out.
Where have I gone wrong, and I know I have and I feel the effect of the sin; where have we/you gone wrong?

I still have nightmares and flashes of the things I have done, but I believe that God is good, I am not. I am similar to Lot and had to be dragged out of Sodom to be saved. Man... healing is hard, and most the time I don't forgive myself, even now. But I know that God really is better than my best thoughts of Him, and He has forgiven me.

Hmm...

Please pray for me, and pray for my past. I pray that those I hurt may heal, and I pray that I can heal. And all of us can live in wholeness in Christ.

Blah blah vomit

I was told about a conversation that was overheard while drinking coffee that went something like this:
"If you could pick one girl that was the best 'marriage material', who would you pick?" a girl says to a boy.
"Uh, I don't know. None of them really, you?" He replies with a look of confusion and frustration that the question was even asked.
"Well, I can think of four ... least of which would be -blah- because sometimes she can talk about her cat for so long, well I guess if you can just tune her out well enough, blah blah judge, me me blah, shallow blah blah her her her. "

Uh, gross. I wonder what she really thinks. I stumbled upon an article that I'd read a while ago about being single and whole in God:

Complete as One
by Fern Horst

I had someone tell me, just the other day, that one is not complete without a spouse. It made me wonder: How do I, and other single adults, gain a sense of confidence and self-worth in a society that believes such a statement to be true?

Many people believe they cannot truly live until they find their significant other. They are unable to believe in themselves until they find partners who believe in them. Some people do not feel they have worth until they find someone to give them a sense of worth. And there are many who gain confidence from a dating or marriage relationship. But is this the only way, or, more importantly, the best way, to find oneself?

This type of belief systems indicates a dependency on something or someone other than God. Any time we look to anyone or anything other than God to give us meaning, to meet our needs, we are creating an idol. We are allowing something or someone to take God's place in our lives. This is serious business to God. Idolization is adultery to Him; it hurts Him as much as we hurt when friends betray their loyalty to us. He wants to have that place in our lives. He will give us more meaning and worth and acceptance than any "significant other" ever could.

Both Christ and the Apostle Paul taught in the Bible that remaining dependent on God is easier when one is single. When one is married, it is easy to put one's spouse in God's place, to expect him or her to meet the needs that only God can fill. Marriage does not legitimize idolization. God still wants His rightful place in our hearts regardless of our marital status.

Should we avoid marriage then? Of course not! God calls some to serve Him in a marriage relationship. He chooses to meet some people's needs through marriage. But not all. For some He chooses to meet needs through a variety of people. God wants some of us to be single so that we can serve Him in ways those who are married cannot.

But we can be sure that God will meet everyone's needs, married or single. We can also be sure that God wants all of us to commit our lives to Him, married or single. Singleness is not an excuse to live our lives for ourselves, or to sit around waiting for life to happen. It is happening, and we are each responsible to take what opportunities God has given us and use them to their fullest advantage.

Yes, I'm complete. You're complete. And it has nothing to do with whether or not we're married. It has everything to do with the fact that Christ lives in us and with Him we are not only complete, we have everything we need to live the life of a fulfilled, successful
adult.

Copyright Fern Horst. Published at Purposeful Singleness (www.singleness.org) and reprinted by permission.