Better

I think I would do a better job if I didn't try to write something each day. But part of this exercise is to be in the word each day and to think about it. I am still in Proverbs, I am spending a lot of time in Proverbs. I initially thought I would try to read 4 chapters a day.  But I have been in Proverbs since about June 24th. If Id kept to my pace I would have finished it in early July. I don't feel like being in a hurry, I am trying to learn something about God. Sometimes something on the news or in life distracts me and I go off on a rabbit trail. Sometimes my blogs are about what I am dealing with in my personal life.  Some of the things I write has come off harsh, probably part of my personality. Like Trump I can't help it, but I thought by rereading and rewriting 5 or more times I would do better. Some one I respect was talking about Lincoln and how he would rewrite letters 5 times and his outcome was always better after the fifth time. I thought it good advice and that is slowing me down even more. Sometimes by rereading and rewriting, I am rereading the same scripture over and over again. My pray life is under change, I saw a video in a sermon I listen to by Bill Wolfson in Hemet, CA. I thought this is my prayer life and it needs to change. I was tempted to tear up my list that day. I really began to wonder about my motivation  for some things on my prayer list. Some names have been on there for decades. But I don't want to take them off, I don't want to throw away my prayer list.  Then I thought about a young lady in Texas that was bedridden for years. She spent the majority of her waking moments praying for others, that was her ministry. She had a calendar with 1/2 hour slots marked off as to what or whom to pray for.  It was much more purposeful than what I am doing. Some times we become so rote in our relationship with God. I want God and I need him but I don't want it to become a religious thing that I do. I want it to be more of an interactive thing that I do with God each day than showing up in the coffee shop with Jesus and I do all the talking and just about the time Jesus wants to say something, my time is up. I posted it on face book recently, and you can google it,  "coffee with Jesus" and you can find the video. Bill Wolfson's  sermon and the video really made me think about my prayer life. Bill Wolfson's sermon was from the 21st of July I think. You can find that on face book. Ephesians 5:26 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,  That is what this process is meant to do to change us, to transform us as we pray to God and read his word.  It is a lifetime process, and don't be discouraged if it doesn't happen as fast as we like. It is not where we have started from but where we end up that is important. Job went through major difficulties, Jonah spent three days in the belly of a Whale. Moses did not make it to the promised land ( Israel / Canaan )  but I believe we will see him in Heaven. David failed. And so many others through Biblical history. Moses murdered a man, David murdered a man. Paul witness the deaths of many Christians. This list can go on and on. The New Testament tells us if we say we have not sinned we are liars and the truth is not in us. Christian circles are made up of flawed individuals, but it is where they end up in eternity that is important. This life is like a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. It is soon over.  In my failures I have sought to draw closer to God,  not away. It is kind of like the ancestors of our nation, to form a more perfect union. This country is not perfect, but it is better than any other nation on earth. Christians are not perfect but in the same way strive to be a more perfect person.   We are God's children, when  we accept Jesus as our savior and that is everything when it comes to eternity. God will see Jesus not our imperfect imitations of him. God bless, LVZ.