My son Colby texted me and asked if there are any hypoallergenic cats.  I told him that even the hairless Sphinx cat breed wasn’t considered entirely hypoallergenic.  He texted again and said his college room-mate in the  dorm really wanted a pet and they were considering a cat or a dog, but they were both slightly allergic to cats.  I quickly texted back sharing my vast knowledge that it wouldn’t be a great idea to have a cat in a dorm room as they meow and their litter boxes create a noxious odor.  Also, dogs bark and have to be taken outside to use the bathroom on campus,  in which case it would quickly become obvious that they had a prohibited pet.  I suggested a snake.  But, alas his room-mate desired a fluffy pet he could play with.  I suggested maybe finding a friend who lived in town who had a pet they would be willing to occasionally “share”  by inviting them over to play with their pet. 

The conversation would appear to all intelligent people to be over, but no.  The next question was, “Can I bring a cat home for the summer?”  I asked if he already had a cat.  Thank goodness the answer was a negative.  I asked why his room-mate couldn’t take the cat home for the summer, after all it did appear to be mostly his idea.  The answer to that came quickly enough, “His parents hate cats!”  I sighed.  I know how stubborn Colby can be.  As a child he was such a sweet little boy with an angelic little face, but when he set his mind to something he refused to give up.  I texted back, “Well, we have a cat who hates everything!” 

Does God sigh in His all-knowing parental wisdom when we insist on asking for what He knows will not work out for our best?  John 14:14 tells us, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”  But, what does it mean to ask for something “in Jesus name”?  Take for example a teacher sends a student to the Custodial Director to ask for a roll of paper towels to clean up a spill in the class room.  The Custodial Director will give it to the student when he knows that it is the teacher who is requesting it through the student.  The student is asking for what the teacher requested not just making up something he felt like having, for instance a case of toilet paper to toilet paper all the trees outside the school for Halloween. While such shenanigans may be momentarily fun for the wayward student it will not benefit him long-term.  Paul tells us that, “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”  1Corinthians 1:25

“For But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.  1 Corinthians 2:9

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

I woke up this morning without my voice.  Now I am managing to croak through conversations with Brett and Aspen.  I’m not sure it’s worth the effort as half the time they ask me to repeat myself.  Brett has taken over fixing meals for Aspen while she gives him strict instructions about how mommy does it.  While Daddy reaches for the butter to fry the eggs she tells him, “Mommy doesn’t use butter, mommy uses oil.”  Brett dutifully put away the butter and reached in the cupboard for the oil, asking first to make sure it was the right one. 

In the end I’m not sure it really matters if the eggs this morning were fried in butter or oil.  The main purpose of fixing eggs is that Aspen gets to eat breakfast.   I used to attend a church that held a “conservative” first service and a “liberal” second service. I discovered that the people who attended either service liked to think that theirs was the right way to worship God.  But, I like to think that it doesn’t  matter how you worship God, just that you actually do so. 

Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name…   1 Chronicles 29:13

Detoxification is a great way to remove toxins from the body. I have used a juice fast several times to detox. A quick internet search revealed 40 links to various detox diets on just one website.  Everything from the ‘Lemonade Fast’ to the ‘Fruit Flush’.  The suggested time to spend detoxing lasted anywhere from 24-hours to four weeks.  They all promised to help remove toxins from your body, with the ultimate result being a healthier you. 

The general idea of a detox diet is to put something healthy in your body and it will remove the unhealthy stuff you had previously put into it.  I would like to suggest that the way to do a spiritual cleansing of the soul is to put in the Word of God on a regular basis.  Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against Thee.”  If I daily eat a healthy serving of God’s words, His words will help to cleanse the sin out. The suggested time to spend on a spiritual detox?  “…All the days of my life….” Matthew 15:11

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.  Matthew 15:11

The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.  Psalm 37:31

Brett and I walked out of the church and climbed into the car.  We decided to take the freeway home rather than go through town and risk sitting at every stop light on the way.  About 20 minutes later we pulled off the freeway onto our exit.  At the top of the exit we stopped at the stoplight.  A man sat next to the road with a sign asking for a ride to LA.  I looked over at him and he had the most compelling eyes.  I asked Brett if we could pull through McDonald’s, and buy the man a meal.  We turned left, drove over the bridge, stopped at another stoplight and turned left again. We drove to the next stoplight finally turning right and pulling into the drive-thru at McDonald’s.  We ordered a meal and drove back to the intersection where we had seen the man.  A police officer had pulled over and was talking to him.  We drove down to the light, waited for it to turn green, then made a u-turn.  When we arrived back at the intersection the police car was pulling away, but the man wasn’t in the police car.  We looked around trying to see him so we could give him the meal, but we couldn’t see him anywhere.  There really was no place for him to have gone, there were no stores close by, just wide-open highway.  I still wonder who he was, and where he went. 

While living in Las Vegas it wasn’t unusual for a homeless person to ask for money or a meal.  I always bought the meal, but rarely parted with any cash because I don’t usually carry any with me.  I usually felt sad and compassionate when buying someone a meal.  But it was only that one time that I felt compelled to buy a meal for a homeless person who hadn’t even asked.

I’ve been pondering the text found in John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”  I generally apply a vague “I must die to self” application to this text without giving much thought to how to do that outside of how impossible it seems most of the time.  But after sharing the above story I’m thinking that quite possibly dying to self isn’t so hard after all.  Maybe it just involves allowing God to compel my heart to do what He would do as He walks with me on this path we call life.

I awoke and looked at the clock, 6:55 am.  I didn’t feel tired, but I allowed myself the luxury of lying in bed for a few more minutes.  My mind wandered to various thoughts then paused for a moment.  After the momentary pause a thought began to run through my mind:  Ask the pomegranate god…..I stopped that thought mid-sentence and began to mentally berate myself.  “Miranda!  You are so weird!  Who thinks thoughts like that?  Really!?  Ask the pomegranate god?”  Well, alright I was intrigued so I said to myself, “Ask the pomegranate god what?  What would you ask the pomegranate god for?  Well, pomegranates of course.  So picture yourself standing before the pomegranate god and asking for pomegranates.  What is your confidence level?  Well pretty high I guess since he is the pomegranate god and that’s what he does–give out pomegranates.”

After this conversation ran through my head my next thought was this: So why don’t you stand before God with the same confidence that your requests will be answered? Ooooooooh.  OK God, I get it.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:14, 15 

…..You do not have, because you do not ask God. James 4:2

Brett walked into Best Buy intent on purchasing a ‘box special’ television.  He missed having a large screen to edit video.  While Brett stood viewing two televisions to see if one showed a better picture the sales person walked up and began a conversation.  “This one has 1280 mega pixels while this one only has 725.”  Brett having already read the specs replied, “No, they both have 1280 mega pixels.”  The young man took a look and said, “You’re right.  Good call.”  The conversation continued with the obviously new sales clerk making statements about the televisions and Brett correcting him. 

Brett picked out a television and they walked up front to check out.  The tax exempt card Brett presented to the clerk refused to scan the first time.  He called over two more employees who also couldn’t get it to work.  Brett told the young man that if he would just keep scanning it eventually the scanner would read it.  The clerk ignored Brett’s advice and finally took the card to the manager at customer service.  The manager scanned the card, which once again refused to be read.  He said, “Watch this,” and continued to scan the card which finally beeped when the machine read the card.  The manager said,”Sometimes you just have to keep scanning the card until it reads it.”

I wonder how many of God’s truths I am ignorant of because I haven’t bothered to seek them out?  And then to top it off when  God does point me in the right direction, do I just ignore His wisdom and follow my own just to find out He was right all along? 1Corinthians 1:25 tells us that “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  Let me say with David in Psalm 119:97-98, “Oh, how I love your teachings! They are in my thoughts all day long. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, because your commandments are always with me.”

Brett asked me if I wanted to be an adult sponsor for a “Leadership Retreat” for the young student leaders who attend the school where he teaches.  I agreed to go because, if I didn’t, we would be separated from Thursday afternoon thru Sunday afternoon.  About half-way through the drive to the retreat center  one of the students in my van shared with the rest of us that there would be no cell service at the camp.  WHAT?!  But, he did say that internet service would be available .  I was so relieved to know I would still be able to keep my commitment to write a blog post every day for this year.  Turns out the internet service proved to be incredibly sketchy and only available in the dining room and offices.  To make matters even worse Aspen became sick with a bad cold that quickly became the stomach flu.  I spent the three days of the retreat in the cabin on a small love seat with Aspen til Sunday morning, when we left for home.  To pass the time I picked up pen and paper and wrote my blog posts to be posted later, albeit edited to become almost unrecognizable from the original writing. 

My cell phone went from being a great way to communicate to nothing but an expensive clock.  I spent the days on the love seat with Aspen unable to go anywhere and unable to text or call Brett, who I knew was so close by and yet so terribly far away.  I impatiently waited for him to find time in the busy schedule of his days to stop by and visit. 

Prayer is such a great way to talk to God.  I wonder if He gets bored waiting for His special someones to stop by and talk to Him.  If we don’t bother to pray than the fact that He sent His son to die for us becomes nothing but an expensive gift that sits around like a cell phone with out service.

Aspen, the child who only sleeps when she has to, nearly fell asleep at breakfast.  She put her head in my lap and closed her eyes.  I correctly guessed that she wasn’t feeling well.  At lunch time she hardly touched her food and proceeded to throw up several times in the next 24 hours.  I don’t like when Aspen doesn’t feel well, but I sure did enjoy the extra cuddle time she needed.

I wonder if that is how God feels when my life takes a turn for the worse and I decide to spend more time with Him.  I’m sure He doesn’t like when I feel bad, but at the same time I’ll bet He really enjoys the extra time He gets to spend with me.

Richard opened the front door and peered into the blackness. His fingers fumbled for the light switch.  The light flickered for a moment, then crackled and snapped leaving him in the dark.  Richard mentally prepared himself for a day in the jungle while he ran his finger down the sharp edge of his sword.  The salesman had assured him of the quality of this particular sword and had provided a dazzling demonstration of it’s capabilites.

Richard’s ears tuned to the sounds of the jungle.  He hesitated, the steps were right outside the door, but he couldn’t see them.   Garnering enough false bravado to propel himself forward he stepped through the doorway.   His feet flailed as they searched for the front steps.   Whump!  His ankle found the ground first followed quickly by his back side.  After the pain signals to his brain subsided enough to process information, Richard deduced that the  three front steps were no longer in their usual place.  He crawled back through the doorway he had so recently exited.   Popping open the first aid kit, he found the ace bandage and wrapped it tightly around the sprain.  Wincing in pain he hobbled to the medicine cabinet and opened a bottle of Advil, poured a couple into his hand and swallowed them with a slurp of water from the sink.

Gathering his courage back at the front door he remembered the details about the sword.  The salesman had boasted about it’s bright light so he could see the path ahead of him, and the dangers around him.  It would cut down any tangled vines and fight off any beasts that confronted him on his daily journey.  He pulled it out of the scabbard and immediately appreciated the light that shone forth.  He stared in amazement at his porch steps sitting about five feet in front of the house.  Sitting down he gingerly slipped to the ground. 

The sound of a rattle while edging past the stairs instantly put all of his senses on high alert.   At the same time a baboon screeched.  Then silence.  Maybe it wasn’t a snake after all, maybe it had been the leaves rustling.  He inched forward, still in high alert mode.  To his left a cobra moved to strike.  The next thing he saw was the snake dangling from the sword he held in front of him.  Shuddering he shook it off into the brush.  He made a mental note to take the salesman, who had recommended buying this sword, to dinner.

Richard strode forward in confidence now.  The Advil relieved the pain in his ankle and with the light of the sword he could avoid stepping in the pot holes.  Pausing to take a break after hacking away at some particularly vigorous vines, he slipped the sword into its scabbard.  Voices hummed in the distance.  He glanced in their direction and saw a familiar path.  Richard didn’t need the light of the sword for this path, it was easy, downhill all the way.  When he arrived at the sound of the voices, he found his friends “charming” the very type of snake his sword had killed just a few hours before.  It seemed so harmless now as he watched one of his friends play the flute while the snake swayed back and forth.  His friends watched intently, seemingly as charmed as the snake.  As Richard continued to watch the snake charmer, the thought crossed his mind that maybe instead of using his sword to overcome the snake, he should learn to play the flute like his friend.  When he thought of his sword his hand reached for it, he pulled it out and the light illumined the shadows beyond his friends.  He lifted his sword a little higher to get a better look and his eyes grew wide in terror.  Lions nearly encircled the whole group, within moments they would pounce.  Richard screamed a warning, but no one seemed to notice.  Richard fled back up the path he had so recently come down.  He needed his sword to make it back up.  Climbing up the path proved harder than going down it.  His sword once again proved a source of light and direction to help him find his way home.

Eventually the more Richard used the sword the easier it became to hold onto it all day.  Sometimes he had to hold tightly so he didn’t drop it.  Other times it seemed to nearly have a life of its own.  He discovered that the more he used it, the sharper it became, and the brighter it’s light shone into the darkness.

God’s word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword…. Hebrews 4:12

The last of the drama students vanished from the classroom into the school hallway.  Brett grabbed his backpack and we headed down the hallway to the front door.  Brett stopped at the front door to whine, “I can’t go outside, it’s raining!”  I opened the door and replied, “You have no sense of adventure!”  Aspen and I laughed as we splashed through the water in the parking lot.  I’m not sure what Brett said, but it probably went along with his previous belief that he couldn’t go out in the rain.  If anyone was in danger of melting I’m sure it was me!  I’m sure I’m a little more salty than he is sweet. 

When we pulled up in the drive way the rain renewed its passion for falling from the sky.  Brett commented as he ran through the door that the raindrops had grown in size no doubt as a result of his previous comments about the weather.  The puddles resembled small ponds and the rain whooshed off the roof in front of the door like a water fall.  As I ran under it I discovered it had far more water pressure than the shower in our house!  Our jackets were soaked and we hung them up to dry.  Brett and Aspens hair looked like they had just stepped out of the shower. 

When I awoke this morning the wind swirled like a jet stream through the trees surrounding our house.  After lunch I received at least half a dozen weather updates to my phone warning of flash floods and flooding in the area.  But now the sky is nearly dark and the leaves on the trees barely flutter with the wisp of a breeze.  The ground is wet, but that is a good thing since it will provide life to the plants.  Brett and Aspen sit cozied up together on the couch watching “Martha Speaks” on PBS and while my hair no longer resembles the perfect smoothness of being flat ironed this morning, thanks to the effects of the second shower I received today, we weathered the storm and things are calm and peaceful once again.

If you have ever read through Psalms you will notice that David writes from one extreme to the next.  He is either praising God for his strength, power and glory or he is in the depths of despair waiting for God to save him from his enemies.  My days are often like the weather today, sometimes up and sometimes down but I really like what David says in Psalm 40:2, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”  I thank God for His perfect timing, in the storms and in the peace!