"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." -- Princess Leia Organa

Do you recognize this?  Probably.  This is from a movie that I personally LOVE!  Star Wars, Ep 4.  Here Princess Leia is asking for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi for the situation of her planet and the revolution.  It is found with the help of Luke Skywalker who seems to be pretty handy with droids.

Ever feel that you are facing a situation that doesn't seem to have any answer that you can provide?  I know that I have.  Ever feel that there is nothing that you could do to change the situation, but you do not like where you are headed and desperately want out?  I have.  Have you wished that you owned a nice little droid named R2-D2?  I totally have.  😄  That little bot is so awesome and helps the team get out of so many different situations...

But I don't have a helpful R2-D2 rolling around my house.  I have to face problems with that kind of help.  I know that I used to be someone who would Google everything, look it up on YouTube, or find something in the library.  In fact, I still think of those answers first.  I have a personal thought system that makes me want to be "the man" and be the one with all of the answers.  I tremendously struggle asking others for help.  Which is fine if you are trying to build a new chair or paint a room.  But imagine making mistakes with another person.  You said something that was a lie, or misrepresented them, or talked about them behind their back.  I have done all three of those, and more too.  Now imagine facing that person who is asking you if that was true, and the only real answer you can give is, "Yes."  Further, imagine seeing the hurt you have caused them running through their face and all you can think is, "I hurt that person, there is nothing I can do to heal that, and I suck."  Been there.

What do you need here?  A friend that you can trust with deep, intimate ideas--like this conundrum.  I have found that I cannot face life's challenges and pains without someone else.  I can try on my own, and I sure have done that way too many times, but that usually ends up making the situation worse.  The truth though is that I have been most successful when I went to a friend and explained what went on and how I thought and felt about the whole situation.  It helps to have someone who loves you enough to hear your sins and still be there.  I am not specifically referring to a spouse, but they should be that kind of person too.  I am one who finds this kind of help difficult to find, but it is very much like Leia's cry out to Obi-Wan.

'Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen. '
James 5:16 (NCV)

Do you have an Obi-Wan in your life?  If not someone who can wield a light-saber, someone who can listen to you, love you and push back when they need to.  Someone who knows you and shares themselves with you in return.  Someone who will pray with you.  Someone who is a great friend.  If not, time to find an Obi-Wan.

I said no, but they said yes 100 times... 🎎 🖌

I love this video. It inspires jokes and cracks at home about things that we don't want to do or things that our kids are whining about doing.  I found this first in a Facebook post, which I followed to its place on YouTube.  Today I found this article about it.  Basically, though, the video is her explaining the "Why?" question by blaming it on her doll.  Very cute!

The funny part of the situation is that we all do this ourselves.  Our issues may not be an improper use of nail polish.  But we are all good at making excuses for them and ignoring the consequences.  I did a little search to find out how often certain things happen to be discussed in the Bible.

What?	Times?
Kill	1083
Money	249
Sex	212
Sabbath	134
Other Gods	84
Drunk	70
Lying	70
Greed	21
Stealing	13
Covet	11

But my question now is, how often do I think of these things?  How often do I encounter them in my own life?  Do I really think about really killing people?  Or fear being killed?  Rarely, if ever.  But I am reminded of the scripture found in Matthew 5:21-22, where it talks about how anger harbored towards someone, is the same as murder.  I have frequently been angry at other people.  Or what about other things?  Do I worry about or am concerned about money?  Yes!  I may not go out thinking about how I could rob banks, but I find myself jealous of some of the things that others have.  All the things on the above list I have to say at one time or another I was guilty of to some degree.  

I hate lists of things I am not supposed to do.  So I have redefined them in my mind:

• Kill = Support and encourage life and growth which God has designed (i.e., everything!)
• Money = Be good with what God has given me and treat it like I am just a caretaker.  When I see a need, then I get the opportunity to go and meet it if I  am able to.
• Sex = Honor the gifts God has given to others, guard what he has given me and leave the gifts of others alone.
• Sabbath = Honor God with rest.  Even He rested after creating everything.  I need to follow His lead and do the same.
• Other Gods = God is first and foremost in our world.  He created everything, including me!  And He loves me.  Looking elsewhere for inspiration, love, and hope would be like me plugging my laptop into a pile of dirt and expect it to work.

I could go on, but you see that I needed to re-understand what God has for me.  The point for me is to not walk around saying "no" to everything.   But see God's handiwork and learn what He says yes to.  If I look around the world around me I can say that God has said "yes" in so many different ways and so many different places that He overshadows what else might be trying to attract my attention.  I just need to choose to listen.

Are we truly free, or are we not?

Freedom!
When I hear this word I get an image in my mind from the movie Braveheart, where William Wallace is encouraging his side and yells, "Freedom!!!"  Where in my own life do I have a desire for freedom?  And what is freedom?

Freedom is: noun

1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: "He won his freedom after a retrial."
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint
4. political or national independence.
5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: "a slave who bought his freedom."

There are times when I feel like there is an enemy and that I am the target of all his attacks.  Whether or not that is true, I long for this feeling of freedom.  But what do I want freedom from?

I want freedom from:

• Pain/suffering
  
• Slavery
• Addiction
• Oppression
• Sexuality
• Cruelty
• Boredom
• Politics
• Self
• Others
• Emotions
• Technology
• The "MAN"
• Religion
• Body/Image
• Gossip/Criticism
• Government
• Too much to do
• Etc...

What am I really asking to be saved from?  What do I really want to be free of?  It seems complicated at first but the truth for me is that I want the freedom to do what I want when and where I want to do it.  But the truth is that we are never truly free.  My actions have consequences.  There is a cost for the things I choose to do, because with every "yes" there are a bunch of "no"s. Sometimes, when I am crying for "freedom," I am asking for there to not be consequences for my actions.  

So what?  There are situations that people these days still desperately need freedom from.  Are they crying needlessly?  No.  There are things that we can do to help them (and ourselves) from oppression.  Important things.  Things that we need to do.  But the greatest source of true freedom that I have ever found is Jesus Christ.  He loves me (and you too) and has worked to free me from the ultimate consequence: death, eternal death.  You see, our lack of freedom in the world ultimately stems from harms derived from a person's sins.  It could be our own sin or that of someone else.  Sin is where we "miss the mark," much like missing the target when shooting an arrow from a bow.  It could cause unintentional pain, or it could have done that because I wanted it to.  But it harms people, it harms me, and it harms Jesus as he took the consequences for it himself.

I don't really know how to explain how that works.  But I have faith that it is true. However, what does that have to do with what I said earlier?  There are ultimately two sides, led by two great sources.  Your choices will determine which one rules your life.  I have found that God's ways are always the best--even when it doesn't make sense in the right now.  The other source is calling me to try to please myself, try to put myself first in everything.  That doesn't seem to be bad, right?  But if I am the center of my own universe the other people in the world are just there to please me.  Does it work though if I am doing that, you are doing that, and we all seek our own selves first?  What that does is lead to envy, strife, hate, anger, fear, and aloneness as you sink further and further away from other people.

"5 Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do. 6 If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 7 When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even able to obey God’s law. 8 Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
9 But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10 Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God."  

Romans 8:5-10 (NIV)

For me, my life was headed towards death.  I thought that I was going to be okay because I had said the prayer where I told God I was a sinner and needed Him in my life.  But my actions were stating that I didn't truly believe that.  So instead I continued my sin and tried to lead others to God.  If I had continued my sin I truly would have died and created a bigger hole in the lives of my family than I already had.  I found out that I truly needed a relationship with other Christians and a real relationship with Jesus. Like when I had first prayed that prayer.  I was hopeless. Stuck.  What I needed was freedom and could only get that from Jesus.  I needed to shift who I was putting in the center of my universe.  No more me.  It needed to be Jesus.  I have been glad since then because since I have found a relationship with Jesus I have never been closer to Him than I am right now. Am I perfect?  No.  Do I still sin?  Yes.  Am I finding a difference in my life?  Absolutely, and the Holy Spirit is working on who I am as I learn to be more open and intimate with Him.  Freedom?  Yes, most definitely!  From what I thought I wanted?  No.  But freedom from sin and a relationship with someone greater than I could ever imagine is what I have gained.

Peace!

 I remember waaaaaaaay back to my days in school.  Specifically, elementary school.  What I remember is that they told us to use the sign on the right side of this blog to be quiet.  They told us it meant we needed to be quiet.  If we weren't quiet they would come up and be more forceful and less polite as they asked us to be quiet.  Seemed at odds with what the sign meant even more years back.  In fact, when I was younger, seeing those pictures I wondered why they were always telling people to be quiet.  When I was older I found out that it was actually the peace sign that you could take with you.  Wow, huh?

Peace, what does it mean to you?  I know that over the years it has meant different things.  To someone in the time of Edgar Allen Poe, it meant to be calm and quiet.  To those in the 60's, it was part of a movement which wanted the wars to stop and people to be nice to one another (hence the hand and circle signs).  To us, it means different things even today.  So, what does "peace" mean to you?

My own definition of peace has changed over the years.  It started as being a boring time where I wasn't supposed to do anything or to speak.  Later I thought of it as some sort of hippy nonsense that didn't mean anything in today's world.  When I was older and working I wanted "peace" to fall over those gathered with me and so that they'd quiet down.  Most recently I have had a fundamental shift as to its meaning in my life.

For me now, peace is not something that I can make or give.  It is a certainty that God has a great love for me and that he has things planned out, all I need to do is trust Him the best that I can.  Peace is a calming, overwhelming sense of security, regardless of what is going on or happening.  Peace is knowing that whatever I face, God wins (and through my relationship with Him so do I).  It is awesome to experience that kind of peace.  It is something that no person, city, government, or country can truly provide.  It is only available through God and your relationship with Him.  I have thought that peace was just an emotion or an action to complete. I am glad that it comes from God through Jesus' self-sacrifice empowered by the Holy Spirit.  God keep me in your peace.

Philippians 4:6-7
 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

We all want "safety," right?

"We all want 'safety,' right?  I have been thinking about this question for quite a long time.  It is a desire that I have especially for my kids.  I look at each one of them and hold them so precious that I want them protected and safe.

We want the things that we love in life to remain safe and undisturbed.  I want the ability to send my kids out to play and not worry about them getting hurt, or kidnapped, or even hurt by friends.  I want them to be safe and unmolested.  I want the things that I build or decorate to remain as is and not be vandalized.  I want to sing and not have my song interrupted by someone else.  I want all that I have to do to not challenge or confront me.

I view life as a place where I am a monkey that always has friends and bananas ready when I want them.  Heaven on Earth, right? Want to join me?

However, I have also found in life that I don't grow or change without challenges.

But how can I let the things I love venture out into places where safety may not even be possible?  Can I really let go of even myself and go out in those areas too?  Should I not have rules and regulations that keep me safe?

What immediately comes to mind is the playgrounds where I've taken my kids to go and have some fun.  I don't know if you've noticed that for a number of years our playgrounds have become more and more protected.  I know that I have.  For me, this has not been a good thing.  It seems that they are making the play stuff so safe that fun is being wrung out.  I think about growing up and using swings that were probably 20 feet tall.  Swinging hard and then jumping off, smiling the whole time!  Yet today's swings sets are barely 8 feet tall--if that.  I remember jumping off and hurting myself--and using the experience as a lesson so that next time I can do it better.  Today we are so worried about getting sued that we opt for safety.

How far is my desire to be safe changing who God has created me to be?  If safety is my goal, then I become someone who would go around with a notepad and pen, writing down things that I deem unsafe.  I would put down those around me who allowed or caused things to not be safe--even telling them to change what they do.  I would have a list of rules a mile long that I feel everyone should know and follow.  I would become what they call these people in the Bible: Pharisee.  How often, even in today's world do we tread that path in some way at some time?

I have been convinced through conversations that I have had with people and connecting that with what I've read in the Bible.  Safety comes with problems that I have no power to correct.  It even may be a wrong manner of living.  Security is something that is promised to all of us.  Something that we should expect from the Lord.  Yet, that security is not the same as safety.

Security, what is that?  For me, it's trusting that the all-powerful God has promised me that I am His and will always be protected by him.  I know ultimately where I will end up: heaven, in His presence!  So then the question I have for myself is, why then do I fear what might happen to me here and now?

What do I need to do next?  I have realized that at times I want safety more than I want God's provision.  I want to feel good rather than experience the wonder that God can accomplish in my life and the lives of those around me.  I focus on good enough rather than seek and ask God for His best.  So what to do?  It may be different for you, but I am learning more and more about my relationship with Jesus.  I am facing uncertain situations knowing that God will keep me secure and have been trying to let go of my anxiety and fear of what could happen.  I will be looking for more opportunities to be a blessing in the lives of those around me and go places where I know that will be the case.

Only when I trust God do I come closer to knowing Him more fully.  Only when I trust will I experience the miracle of being one of His. As the Bible says:

"I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand,
and I tell you, ‘Don’t be afraid.
I will help you.’" Isaiah 41:13 (NCV)

Let us allow God to help us!