You Want Me To Do What???

I started reading through Hosea last week and read about Hosea and Gomer. Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God told Hosea to take Gomer as his wife and that she would be unfaithful to him. Seems crazy, but Hosea did what God told him to do. I put myself in that situation and I don't know what I would do. When God tells me to do something that seems a little bit crazy and illogical, I have to ask Him if He's sure I'm suppose to do it. And then of course I'll give my excuses like 'That's out of my comfort zone' or 'I'm not sure how to approach the situation.' Sometimes I'll run the opposite direction like Jonah did. But here's Hosea, he goes out and does it. He took a step of faith not knowing what God's plan was. I want to be able to step up to the plate and have God use me how He wants to.

The past 2 years I've grown a lot and on several occasions, stepped out of my comfort zone and did what I felt God leading me to do. Things like going on a youth trip, talking to someone I didn't know sitting by themselves and getting to know some of my co-workers more personally. I've even done some things that seemed crazy to me, and way out of my comfort zone, that God told me to do. Prime example: I volunteered to help out Middle School Youth For Christ this past school year. That wasn't the craziest part though... The crazy part was when I thought about dropping out, God told me to keep helping out, and I stayed.

What's something you've done that's out of your comfort zone that God told you to do?

Going Through the Dark

On the way back from a Super Bowl Party I went to that was a hour and a half away. I left about 10pm and I noticed it was really dark. The moon was less than half full, the highway had very little traffic and there were few street lights. The highway I drove on has a lot of curves and exits and so it made me nervous to drive on not knowing if the road kept going straight or if it curved. I turned on my brights as much as I could. Most of the time I was forced to keep looking down at where my normal headlights were able to reach so I could watch the lines.

Not knowing what was up ahead, made me really nervous. I then realized that it was kind of like what I am dealing with in my life. I don't know what's coming up. I don't know if I'm going to continue working at my job or will I find a new job and have to move. I don't know if I can make Summer plans or if I'll be working. As I was driving I remembered a verse I've heard mentioned a couple times this past week. In Isaiah 41:13 it says:

"For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you."

Even if I can't see where my life is going, I know that God is with me. He's holding my hand every step of the way. How awesome is that?

Water Bills

Water Bills
Courtesy of MountianWings.com

I do the water and sewer billing for a small city in Washington State. Customers complained about our postcard-sized bills - which they said looked too much like junk mail. So we decided to start sending full-sized bills in envelopes. The month before the switch, I had a note printed on the cards, announcing the change.

Two days later, I heard someone yelling at our receptionist, "Is this some kind of joke?" When the customer threw his bill upon the desk, I saw his point. The note was,

"Coming soon! New Larger Bills!"

Burn Out Bright

This is a title from a Switchfoot song. Here's the chorus.

If we've only got one try
If we've only got one life
If time was never on our side
Then before I die
I want to burn out bright

We only have one shot at life. We all have ambitions. Those ambitions give us a burning feeling inside of us. Before I leave this earth, I want to burn out bright.