And!

It was actually in the 40’s when Fiver and I went out first thing this morning.  I had to wear a long sleeve shirt and a sweater vest… albeit with my usual hiking shorts… It’s not quite that cold yet!  I do have a feeling though, that I‘ll probably be wearing my jeans a lot more this winter than I did in North Carolina!  I can clearly remember the cold winds that blow down the plains from Canada and across Oklahoma from when we lived here previously.  People had warned us about that before we had moved here in 2006, but I figured that they were just kidding me… but they sure weren’t!  This time I am prepared with my sweaters, scarves, jeans and long johns.

In order to live comfortably out here during the winter, one has to do more than talk a good story.  You have to do something about it, like getting the right clothes and then actually wearing them!  I recall that we had trouble finding Piper some long johns that would fit her the first winter we were here.  We didn’t bring any as we never needed them in California, so when the first cold front came in, we went to our local Super Walmart to get her the proper insulated wear.  The only problem was that we couldn’t find her size!  The only thing on the shelves that we could locate in the multiplicity of stores we went to were “large” and “extra-large” sizes.  If you recall… Piper took a size “petite!”

She ended up wearing a pair or two of sheer tights under her jeans until we finally found one pair of pink long johns in her size in a Walmart in Tulsa… way down at the bottom of a pile of clothes tossed on a back shelf!  When we moved to North Carolina I ordered her 3 pairs of flannel lined jeans from L.L. Bean which she thoroughly enjoyed!  I still have those jeans in the bottom drawer of her dresser… in fact, I still have all the rest of her clothes that aren’t in her dresser packed in two wardrobe boxes.  I can’t bear to do anything with them as of yet.  Piper was so easy on her clothes that most of them are still like new!  At some point the girls and I will go through them and what they don’t take, I’ll most likely donate to Rhema’s “We Care Center.”  Most everyone of those items holds a special memory for me.  I could almost give you a date and the store where we bought them, as she enjoyed taking me with her when she shopped for her clothes!

I read a paragraph that caught my attention this morning from the book I am reading entitled “The Authority of the Believer” by John A. MacMillan.  The author stated:

“It is the duty and privilege of every Christian to understand and enter into the divine desire for our perfecting and to claim the place with Christ, both in His cross and resurrection and ascension, that the Father has appointed.” 

What I noticed is that there’s a lot of “ANDS” in that statement!  Then as I thought about it, I also realized that there are a lot of “ANDS” in the appropriation of our faith!  In order to enter in to the life that Christ died for us to live, we have to do a lot more than just TALK about it.  We have to DO something about it!  It’s like that box I have in my walk-in closet in the apartment that is marked: “Winter Clothes.” 

With the temperatures dropping, I can talk all I want about that box in the closet and brag about how ready I am with my collection of various warm sweaters and insulated underwear… but they will do me absolutely NO good if I don’t make the effort to take out the box, slice open the packing tape and put the items on before I go out… Right?

Likewise, in our Christian walk.  We can talk about our faith but unless we actually make the effort to DO something about it… and take action steps that prove our faith… it won’t do us any good!  Pastor James explains it in James 2:18 by saying: "Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions." (GNB)  In likening it to my above winter-wear example you could say: “A Christian ‘wears’ their faith by ‘DOING’ it!  In other words: Talk it AND Do it!

We saw many examples both pro and con of this during Piper’s and my final journey together.  We met many talkers as well as many doers of the Word throughout those years… and I realized this morning that I have to continue doing if I expect to get passed the experience we went through.  I may not have the visual love of Piper to keep me on track… but I still have to stay on track and DO the Word in order to go on with life!

What about you?  What keeps you on track… on God’s track?  Are there any areas in your life where all your TALKING may need to move on to DOING? 

--- Just Saying!

Have a good, cool weather week!  And as you do say with me: “I am expecting to be a DOER or the Word and not just a good talker of it!”  --- AND -THEN DO IT!