Not Even a Hint-Part 2

As I wrote in my last blog, keeping the door to sin closed in our lives is of utmost importance. This was very clearly demostrated to me the other night when we came home from church on a Wednesday night.

Backing up the story a few hours........as we left for church that night, I told my son to make sure the outside light was on. Then we went downstairs through the garage and into my car, closing the garage door as we left. Everything seemed normal....

Or so we thought.

Fast forward a few hours to when we came home....

My kids and I pull in the driveway, unable to get into the garage since the garage door opener is with my husband who was still at church. We got out of the vehicle and trudged through the snow and cold to the front door. I put the key in, fully expecting it to unlock. However, my ideas of being in a warm house quickly vanished as I realized the front door was not opening. The lock was unlocked, but something was preventing me from opening the door.

I struggled for awhile and finally determined that it seemed to be the lock we have at the top of our door seemed to be locked. This seemed really strange to me as we use this lock when we are INSIDE the house since there is no way to unlock it from outside.

I turned to my kids and asked them if they knew anything about it. Instantly my son looked a little guilty and said, "Well, I locked it before we left....I thought you asked me to!"

AHHHHHH!!!! I asked him to turn on the light...NOT to deadbolt the door from inside!

Clearly we were not going to be getting inside the house through this door.

We walked through the snow looking at our other options.

The garage door wasn't a possibility as it was shut and we didn't have the opener for it with us. The sliding glass doors could only be opened from the inside.

Our garage DOES have 2 regular doors, both of which I have a key for. BUT..........since moving here we had piled boxes of stuff in front of the doors. (Bad idea, I know) There was no way those doors were going to budge either.

We all realized that there was no way in the house at this time. It was snowing and cold and we had no idea how long my husband would be before he would be home. I started considering driving back to church to get the garage door opener.

But at that exact moment, we noticed a vehicle slowing down and pulling into our driveway. IT WAS MY HUBBY!!!! HORRAY!!!

We all started jumping up and down, cheering that he finally arrived. He pulled in and rolled down the window and said, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?????" We certainly don't make it a habit to stay outside in the snow and then cheer when people pull into our driveway.

So what does this have to do with sin???? Well my last blog was about keeping the door to sin shut in our lives....and I think this is definitely a great example!

Our house was locked up...it was shut...there was no way of us getting in. This is how we should react to the sin that we encounter. We should do everything to protect our lives from any invasion of sin. We should do everything to make sure our lives are not affected by the sin. We should be locked up to the sin around us!

Sin is a choice. We can protect ourselves or we can allow it to infiltrate our lives. What is your choice?

Not Even a Hint

Imagine it is the coldest day of the year. You wake up in the morning and crank up the heat. But for some reason, it just doesn't seem to get warm in your house. You keep turning the heat up and you pile blankets on top of you.....but still...you are freezing!

Then you realize that there is a draft coming in. Once you investigate, you notice that the draft is coming from your back door being completely OPEN!!!! The coldest day of the year and you are letting in all the cold air from outside. No heater would be able to keep up with that!

That may seem crazy, but I have to tell you, I know exactly how that feels............because it happened to me recently!

Yes, on one of the coldest days of the year, I woke up and turned up the heat higher than normal to take the "chill" out of the air. I put 2 long-sleeved shirts on and then I piled 2 blankets on top of me while I began my day at work.

A little while later, my kids went off to school and my hubby left for work. I sat downstairs, typing away on my computer, but noticing that I was just not getting warm at all. A few hours went by and I realized that the air was getting colder instead of warmer. I noticed a draft coming in. WHAT WAS GOING ON???

I went around the house and checked the heat to make sure it was on and working. Then I added some more blankets wrapped around me. Still didn't help.

A short time later, I decided something was majorly wrong. My house should NOT be turning into an icebox when the heater has been running nonstop for over 2 hours. I opened the door to the laundry room and that's when I realized what the problem was.......the door to our garage was standing there WIDE open!

A few hours before, my husband left for work out that same door. Apparently he left without remembering to shut the door behind him. (How does that happen????) So that day...on one of the coldest days of the year....our house was wide open to the frosty air outside. Our laundry room was completely freezing!

As you can imagine, my next few moments involved both shutting the door AND calling my husband to ask him what in the world he was thinking when he left the door open. He was very surprised to hear that he had done that!

During the next hours of thawing out in our basement, I was thinking about this whole incident.

One door.

ONE.

That's all it took to make our house completely frigid.

One door opened let in enough cold air to affect our house in a negative way.

If we think of this as our lives....what happens if we leave the "back door" open and let just a little bit of sin in?

How much sin is too much?

How much sin does it take to affect us? ....to affect our lives? ....to affect our household?

A little bit of sin can cause the enemy to have a foothold in our lives (Ephesians 4:27). A tiny bit of sin is all it takes to affect our lives negatively.

Sometimes it's easy to open up just a little door to sin. Some sin is appealing...even fun at times. Sometimes sin is attractive and it's easy to think we can manage just a "little bit" of sin.

But a little bit is all it takes. One open door is all it takes. Just as the cold overtook my house, one little bit of sin will eventually take over our lives.

Take a pitcher of water and add one drop of food coloring. That one drop is enough to affect the entire pitcher of water.

It's time to shut all the doors to sin in our lives. We protect our houses in the winter by sealing windows and doors. Why not seal up our spiritual lives and protect ourselves from even the slightest bit of sin?

It's time to have not even a HINT of sin in our lives!

The Chopped Challenge

Last week my son wanted to try something new for dinner. He really wanted us to give him a "Chopped Challenge". Him cook us dinner??? Well...OF COURSE!!!!

If you have ever seen the television show "Chopped" on the Food Network, you would know what he meant by the challenge he wanted. On "Chopped", the contestants are given a mystery basket that contains secret ingredients...most of which are highly unusual and would NEVER be put together under normal circumstances. Then the goal is to make a dish...and appetizer, entree, or dessert...using those mystery ingredients. The contestants must use each ingredient given in the basket....however, they can also add anything extra they would like. It is so very interesting to see the creations these talented chefs come up with!

So....when my son asked us about this, we quickly agreed and began compiling our own list of mystery ingredients. We didn't want to be too difficult, but on the other hand, we wanted it to be a challenge for him!

My husband went grocery shopping for this special event and came how with a very interesting assortment....

1. Chicken
2. Cool Ranch Doritos
3. Croutons
4. Potatoes
5. Easy Cheese...squirt cheese in a can

What a combination!

Tra went to work and took the next hour or so making his own creation. He did quite well, I do have to say! He made chicken, dipping it in egg and then into crushed doritos. Then he fried the chicken in oil. Next he sliced the potatoes and gave them a coating of crushed croutons and spray cheese. These were also fried in oil..........making our dinner so very healthy!!!

The end result...a very good dinner! Although he was not very pleased. Tra felt the chicken and potatoes didn't have enough flavor. We didn't agree and thought everything was good...and it was very nice to have our son cook for us!!!!

So this whole thing got me thinking. Chopped. The whole idea of the show is to use what you are given and to make it into something wonderful.

Isn't that what we're suppose to do with what God has given us also?

God has given each and every one of us specific giftings and talents. If we take what He has given us and nurture that and use it the best way we can, it will turn into something beautiful...and effective for His kingdom!!!

But..........................if we don't use our talents for God, they go to waste! Just like on the "Chopped" show, if a contestant forgets to use some of the ingredients, they are usually the ones CHOPPED and sent home!

The contestants could spend all their time wishing they had different ingredients.....or they could spent their time utilizing what they have been given.

In the same way, we can spend our lives wishing we had different talents....or we can use the ones God has given us.

Now that's not to say that we can never develop new talents. I know from personal experience that is possible. Just a few months ago, I wouldn't have known what to do with a guitar if you put it into my hands...... Now...after much practice...and sore fingers...I have learned how to play some songs!!!!

The point is, God has gifted us with talents....AND desires to nurture/develop other talents. So embrace your "CHOPPED" challenge and use the talents He has given to you!