FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (April 22) - Police are looking for a pregnant woman they say tried to rob a North Carolina bank at gunpoint but left empty-handed after answering her cell phone. Fayetteville police spokeswoman Teresa Chance said Wednesday the woman had a handgun and demanded money when she entered a Carter Bank & Trust branch at 9:43 a.m. Tuesday. But she got distracted when her cell phone rang. Police said she began talking to the caller and left the bank without taking any money. No one was hurt."
Hmmmm...talk about getting distracted! Talk about losing focus! Good grief. I can't help but wonder what the conversation on the phone was about? Was it a friend calling to talk her out of the robbery?Did she receive some bad news or good news that caused her to reevaluate what she was doing? Did she turn to go out to the car to look for something that was brought up in the phone call and "wake up," so to speak, when she got outside? Did she just get caught up in a conversation and forget what she had been doing? Whatever caused it...the phone call distracted her and a robbery was prevented. That was good.
But what about when we get distracted and it's not good? What about when we are in the process of raising our kids, or pursuing an education to better address what God has called us to do, or tenaciously engaged in a task for the betterment of God's Kingdom...and we get distracted? Oh...it could be that we become enamored with a hobby, or get caught up in gossip, or maybe we mire ourselves in complaints about something we don't like, or maybe we just stop doing what God wants in order to do what we want for awhile. Whatever the cause...we become distracted, unfocused and – tragically – ineffective. When that happens...there is a loss. Not only for us, but also for those we are failing to adequately engage in the gospel.
Jesus needs you...He needs me...by choice. He has chosen to use us to be couriers of the gospel. He has purposely left the challenge of reaching our neighborhood, our city, and our world to us...and He needs us to be focused.
Oh...count on it...Satan will be "calling" you in one form or another. But it won't be to avert a theft...it will be to create one. He wants to steal you...to steal me...to steal as many as he can from being and doing what God desires. On what are you focused? Is Christ in that picture? Are you in a position to be used effectively for Christ?
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14
I can't believe it!! Read this..."Most kids complain bitterly when they are grounded. Some will sneak out, while others will settle for slamming doors and announcing that they hate the person making the rules. But sometimes, kids get creative when they're punished: A 6th grader in Quebec sued her dad because she felt that his punishment was too harsh. The 12-year-old girl's parents are divorced; in the spring of 2008, the girl's mom gave her permission to go on a class trip to Quebec City in June. But the middle-schooler lived with her father, and after she disobeyed daddy's orders to stay off the Internet, he told her she couldn't go. So what did she do? She took him to court. Of course. A lower court ruled in favor of the girl, who went on the embattled class trip. Her father appealed -- on principle -- and, amazingly, the girl won again. The father's attorney, Kim Beaudoin, says that her client is "flabbergasted" and they are considering another appeal, this time to Canada's Supreme Court. But, the attorney adds, the father has no regrets about the court proceedings. "Either way, he doesn't have authority over this child anymore. She sued him because she doesn't respect his rules," Beaudoin said. "It's very hard to raise a child who is the boss."
I hardly know what to say. Unfortunately, precedent rules in our nation's courts, so we may begin to see the United States follow suit, with kids taking their parents to court because they don't like how they are being disciplined. Really...people should not put all of their efforts into addressing climate control, education and political correctness, and instead start to think about how to ratchet up their common sense. That seems to be evaporating faster than water in a tin cup on a hot beach.
But...should we be surprised that any court system would be undiscerning about issues of discipline and right and wrong when moral standards are as certain in today's society as a GM employee's future retirement fund? People are stumbling through life, flopping from one decision to another based on their desires and emotions, rather than on truth and principles of right and wrong. We have seen fundamental family values usurped by a "justice" system and many have surrendered our society's foundation to "political correctness" (talk about an oxymoron). I don't know whether to be stunned, angry, disillusioned or heartbroken. Perhaps all of those.
It should be noted that none of this is news to God. The ineptness of humanity has been gaining steam since Adam and Eve ate that fruit dish served up by Satan. Sin will never develop wisdom. Disobedience to Christ will never foster understanding. Human arrogance will never make the lens of day-to-day living any clearer. If you doubt that...just listen to the news and be prepared to scrap the disbelief from your brain as it collects like barnacles on a ship.
But...the good news is that God has addressed this and offers help and hope. That's what Easter is all about. Jesus Christ came to address sin, conquer sin, and offer life, peace, forgiveness and wisdom to all who desire it. Christ rose up from the grave, He rose above those who thought they could "discipline" the Messiah. He rose above the systems of humanity and demonstrated the power of God. The resurrection is the doorway to eternity. It is the opening to a holy reality. It is the pardon the world has waited for...and still stands as a valid gift from God.
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Are you experiencing the resurrection of Christ in your own life?
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26
Well...we're at that point in the year when "diet" talk becomes the main dish on the talking table of people all over the states. Why? Because summer is approaching and people want to be "beach ready." We want to recapture that svelte physique that says, "Whoa...look at this!" Come on...you know it's true. No one wants to walk down to the water with a built-in tube around the waist. We don't want to look like an amphibious boat waiting to launch or a beached whale thrown upon the shore by a storm. So...it's time to talk diet.
What does it mean to diet? Obviously, the point isn't about eating less...no, it's not. The point is to lose weight. Eating less is merely the means to the end. That's why lots of diets will tell you that you can eat all you want and still lose weight. (They don't tell you initially that eating all you want means eating voluminous amounts of asparagus or celery sandwiched between pieces of cardboard). We all recognize that, to shed pounds, we must adjust what goes into our mouths. Personally, I find this repugnant...but nevertheless necessary. Sometimes it's easy to become focused on the diet and lose sight of the point...shedding pounds.
That sometimes happens in our spiritual journey, as well. We become focused on the path and forget about why we're on the path. We think the journey is about reading the Bible and praying and serving and going to church and helping the needy and all the "doing" that comes with our faith. There's certainly nothing wrong with these things...but the point of the journey is to know God. It is to live with Him and breathe His breath and sync our hearts and lives with Him.
You see...there are some things about relationships that can become difficult, such as resolving conflicts, forgiving offenses, learning to communicate effectively and thinking more about someone else than about yourself. But...we do all of that because the other person matters. We see the end result and we want to keep the relationship more than we want to languish in the pitfalls and potholes along the road.
More and more it becomes easy to lose sight of where we're going...to lose sight of Christ and each other. Don't do it! Don't overlook your relationship with Christ because you don't like something about "organized Christianity." (I've never understood that phrase. Perhaps the Church should try to be more unorganized. :-) ) Don't abandon your relationships because they require hard work and investment of self. Don't get bogged down in the journey and wander away from your destiny.
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:1-3
"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17
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