Yesterday was a fairly quiet day for us. Well, except during the Raider/Cardinal football game. I could not believe how the Cardinals came from behind in the second half and beat the Raiders. Unbelievable! Hubby was thrilled. I was in shock.
We went to church yesterday and it was an interesting service. Worship was good... but our pastor had a friend from Nigeria that spoke. The accent was somewhat difficult to follow, but his message was good. I did take some notes, but hubby seemed to have a great difficulty in following what was being said. And the thing with pastors from Nigeria... they don't know when to stop! We go to the first service because, as I have mentioned before, we like structure in that we know we will be out at a certain time. Well, services went to ten minutes before the next service was to start! And he told us as he wound it down for the first service, that if we wanted to stay for the second service, we would get a lot more! Naw, we didn't stay. Hubby had already told me on the way to church he wanted to go to Chili's for lunch, so I knew what was on his mind. I was sooo cold (the first service is always so cold as there aren't as many people there) and have decided I may bring a shawl with me as an extra layer of warmth - and I had a sweater on! And you know also what that means. Even though I was trying to stay focused... when I get cold, I want to go to sleep and yes, I was yawning quite a bit towards the end of the service!
It was pretty much an uneventful weekend, I think. Saturday we didn't do much; I cooked breakfast and dinner. I think I may have gone to the store. Made up a batch of salsa. Yesterday was church, had lunch at Chili's. After coming home I did finally make it across the street to visit a neighbor. Another neighbor had invited us to a concert at their church for the evening, but we declined. Watched the ball game. I crochet'd some. I sewed on a wall hanging some. Dinner was 'on our own' cause I didn't cook. Yeah, I think it was a quiet weekend.
Today I'm back at work, of course. I still have the board minutes to work on. Every time I brought them up to work on last week, I would get distracted by needed to schedule meetings. I really would like to get them off my to do list this week - but will see. Mondays can go either way. Busy or not. I'm driving down to the office on Wednesday to help another department pack up desks and file cabinets. I offered. Yeah, it does cost me gas, but 1) I'm out of the house and 2) I'm actively doing something. I'll go down and spend 4-5 hours and will enjoy every minute of it, even though it will be warm on that floor and lots of work. I'm good with it. I'm out of the house and moving. It's always a good thing.
Did you know that even pastors mess up sometimes on their sermons? As I listened to Free Chapel/Jentezen Franklin yesterday morning, as he was sharing scripture from John 21, (did I mention this yesterday?) he was talking in that chapter to Simon Peter, if you remember, telling him how he was going to die when he got older. Well, then the pastor started talking about how sometimes God answers prayers for some people, but doesn't answer them for others. Like, here is a person who loves Jesus and follows Him and serves Him in a mighty way... but God takes him home at a young age, although numerous people were earnestly praying for him. Then there may be someone who is the 'average' person, maybe doesn't even go to church, and yet, God heals them and life goes on. Doesn't seem fair, does it? We will never know the answer for that until we get to Heaven.
But, one of the examples used was that James - the half brother of Jesus, at the beginning of Christianity, the one who wrote the book of James, the one who was the leader in the Jerusalem church - he said he was beheaded. He got the wrong James! The James he was referring to was the brother of John - and THAT James was beheaded by King Herod. James, the half brother of Jesus, lived to be much older and was stoned to death. How did I know that? It's because I've read my Bible. Plus, when I can read other books that contain background, I do that as well. I've read a book called Foxe's book of Martyrs and it tells the stories of Christians who were killed in the early years of Christianity. It really is very interesting. Did you know they actually sawed Christians in half - alive? Can you just imagine the pain they had to endure before they died? Some would recant, I'm sure, but for those who did not, they won the joys of being with Jesus.
Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV): "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."
Do you ever find yourself wanting to say something - perhaps unkind - to someone because you are so frustrated with them? Or angry with them? Do you find yourself taking a quick 'second thought' about it, and in spite of wanting to say it, you hold your tongue? Sure, there will be times you will blurt it out anyway - and sometimes you will even feel guilty for verbalizing it. Right? So what do we do then? We try to justify saying that critical or hateful word. "They deserved it" we say. "They asked for it; I warned them" we retort. But inside, we know what we did or said was wrong. Apologize? Not usually. We feel justified. RIght?
But Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29 that we are not to let those words come out of our mouths. We should only speak words that build up people. We may be disappointed in people, sure. We may be angry at people - often happens in life. We may feel like screaming at a store clerk because they screwed up an order or something. Or they give us the wrong sandwich after we specifically say NO TOMATOES and NO CHEESE and NO ONIONS (not me!) and our hamburger comes with all of it.
How we respond to others tells them who we are. It gives volumes of what type of person we are. How we respond to difficult situations often tells if we are who we say we are.
I get it. Sometimes the words just come out. I've done it. Hubby has done it. And you probably have done it too. But let's make a pact. Starting today. Before we say something that we may (or may not) regret, let's take the opportunity to build up rather than tear down. Choose your words carefully. You can easily destroy a person with your words, or you can help them make the choice to live.
Words can build up or tear down. Choose your words wisely.
Blessings!
