Bathwater

edited for typos and other things that annoy my wife. 12/31

Gwen says, "But I still love to wash in your old bathwater." I know it's the girl version of Offspring's Self Esteem, but I don't care. I'm just going to rip it out of context and make it fit what I want to say. I don't even feel bad about it, really. It isn't Scripture; it's not even Zeppelin.

"But I still love to wash in your old bathwater." Some would probably say something to the effect of, "Eeww, that's gross".

But not me. I think, "Would my wife be happy in my bathwater?" Understand that I don't mean bathwater as in "the liquid just below the ring in the tub." I mean it more like, "Have I been so washed in the word of God that my wife is becoming more holy and blameless by steeping in my presence?"

Doesn't Eph 5:25-28 say to love my wife as Christ loved the church? Is she not my primary ministry? Am I a help to her sanctification? Ultimately, does being closer to me draw her closer to Christ? I surely hope so. I surely believe that as I grow, as Christ washes me, she may one day ask to wash in my old bathwater.

iPod Update

It has been two weeks since I was podjacked, I have given up hope and have moved on with my life. Only occasionally hoping to find the man only to drag him behind my truck over broken glass mixed with salt (kosher of course). But I'm not bitter, really, I've moved on.

Prayer Request

To the 8 or so people who visit here I have a prayer request. Not an ordinary prayer request, but rather a imprecatory prayer request, for the man that stole my iPod. It was stolen from my work truck, by a customer (I sell tools for a living). Hopefully the guy will hear "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and be distraught enough to return my iPod. But just in case can we all call fire down upon his head? Thanks.

Vicarious Suffering

A while back, I blogged on the joys I have discovered in the blessing of others. This weekend, the flipside of Rom 12:15 was brought to life, weeping with those that weep. Immense is the difference between driving by a serious car wreck and driving by and recognizing your close friends' car in a serious wreck. In the first incident, you may see people already helping and decide to keep moving, nothing to see here. But the second, you most assuredly stop, if you actually call them friend behind their back.

I pulled over for my friends this weekend and wept with them. Got angry at the other driver with them and covered them with prayer. There wasn't any room to ride in the ambulance, but I will be there to minister to wounds as best I can. I will also be keeping my hands at ten o'clock and two o'clock when I drive, with my eyes on the road. This wreck wasn't an accident, it may have been avoided, if everyone had been paying attention.

Help for the Putter

For those of you looking to improve your skill in reading those undulating greens quickly.

Mortify

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. (Nu 33:55)

Sometimes when I read scripture, I see things in a new way. I'm sure I'm not the first guy in 2000 years to see this passage in this light, but this time reading though Numbers I received the proverbial smack up side the head.

For the first time, I saw my own walk. Where, after crossing the Jordan, I have failed to drive out the inhabitants. I can see many areas of my life where I have tried to peacefully co-exist with the old man. Oh, the strife that has ensued.

I can't count how many times I have launched into battle on my own, and gone down in humiliating defeat. Nor can I count how many times I have had to deal with the consequences of those failures. I have a feeling I will need constant reminders, just as Israel did, that my God needs to go before me, that in Him alone is victory.