Recently, as I sat in my office, a feeling of emptiness beset me. My heart was downcast, and I wondered why. The more I reflected, the more I understood the calling and the yearning of the Holy Spirit. My day had been consumed by trivial things, and I pushed God aside. That void I felt was actually the Spirit beckoning me to enter His presence. I did not hear an audible voice from Heaven say to me, “Behold, my child, spend time with me.” It was a gentle leading to draw near. It saddens God that we are too busy doing the “works” instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus. God created man to fellowship with Him. He wanted man to spend time with Him.

In the Garden of Eden, God would walk with man and talk with man, but man walked away from God and he was banished from the Garden. Still today, God desires fellowship with man through prayer. Prayer is not just talking but listening and spending time with Him. In a marriage relationship, the bond is not strong because of the talking, but the quality time spent together. The Father awaits us to enter in. As the Father waits in Heaven for us to get alone with Him and fellowship, I believe He is disappointed day by day as we pass Him by and say, “Maybe tomorrow!” I imagine the Father telling the Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts and beckon us to come. The Father says, “Remind them that I gave Jesus so that they could enter into the Holy of Holies everyday, now.”

In the Old Testament, the priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year on the day of Atonement. The priest would enter for the people. No one else could go in. This was the place where God’s manifest presence was. Many years later, Christ has died on the cross for us so that Atonement has been provided and we can now enter in everyday.

Hebrews 9:12 says, “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

We no longer need a priest. We have free access, but we don’t enter in. We have become accustomed to the privilege; we have taken it for granted. As the Holy Spirit leads and we reject His prompting by saying, “I’m too busy, I have to rush somewhere else, I’m too tired”, the Father says with grace and mercy, “Holy Spirit, maybe they will, tomorrow. I hope tomorrow they will fellowship with me. I love them no matter what.” I am convicted, for pushing God aside and not involving Him in my busy life. What about you? Are you guilty? Maybe you are, or maybe you aren’t, but I would evaluate my time with God. Don’t take Him for granted; He is waiting in the Holy of Holies for you.

Yesterday, the boys went out for a hike while the ladies went “crafting”.  We went to Tanyard Creek in Bella Vista.  The weather was perfect to explore the hills around Bella Vista.  The only down fall was that the water fall was dry.  Other than that it was incredible.

In honor of my two children:

Josh and Hannah both have a characteristic that neither Sonya nor I have.  They are both Pack Rats.  If you look in Josh’s room, it is full of catalogs, books and more.  He doesn’t like to throw anything away.  I don’t think it is sentimental stuff but rather a “what-if I need this again someday” attitude.

Hannah, on the other hand, doesn’t like to get rid of anything.  The other day we were cleaning out the garage and she saw some of the “stuff” I was taking to Helping Hands.  This “stuff” included her toys and old shoes.  She could not part with these things.  She had a melt-down when I told her we were giving these to someone less fortunate.  Hannah did not buy that argument, it was her stuff and everyone else could get their own.  I sent her out of the garage and loaded it up in the car.

She also has the requirement  that when she doesn’t eat her whole meal, she has to get a to go box.  She never touches the food again and we wind up throwing it away, but if we do not get a to-go box, there is a melt-down on our hands.  She is a pack rat with food and her stuff.

I am not sure where my kids got this trait, it certainly wasn’t from me!  But that got me to thinking about how we are as Christians.  We are spiritual pack rats!

We “hang on” to the gospel of Jesus Christ and refuse to give it away to the lost.  We “hang on” to the hurts that someone has caused us and refuse to forgive.  We “hang on” to the compassion of Christ and fail to show it to those who are hurting.  We “hang on” to mercy and judge others rather than showing them mercy and grace.

What are you hanging on to?

How is your life? Are you having tough times?

Job 7:7 says, "…remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again."

Job was having more than a bad day; he was having a bad life. The man who was once the wealthiest man in the land had a "quiver full" of children and one day, everything is all gone. If things were not bad enough already (ever had one of those days?), he is smitten with boils which are excruciatingly painful. So here you have the perfect, upright man who is ready to die. This chapter is a reply to his "good friend" Eliphaz’s "encouragement." What I found interesting is the contrast between chapter 6:10 and this verse in chapter seven verse seven.

Job 6:10 says, "Then I would still have this consolation-my joy in unrelenting pain-that I had not denied the words of the Holy One."

Then in the next chapter he says, "My eyes will never see happiness again." I am comforted by these words because it shows the change in human emotions. When you go through hard times, you will face the ups and downs. One moment you are happy; the next moment, crying. The ultimate victory in trials is to live with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit in your heart and roll with the punches.

One thing we must understand is the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is a state of living; it is dependant on circumstances. Joy, however, is an attitude of the heart. It is something developed through the circumstances. When Job says, "My eyes will never see happiness again", he couldn’t see past his circumstance. If you read the end of Job; he was happy again. I bring hope to you today. Choose to have joy in your heart, and happiness will come again. Look past your circumstance and ask God to develop joy in your heart.

There’s nothing like a little friendly competition among churches. 

Saturday was the perfect day for flying a kite.  It was a cool afternoon and quite windy.  Sonya, Hannah and I went out to fly the kite Hannah has had for two years.  We dusted it off and took it outside for a flight.  When I finally remembered how to fly a kite we made a good flight of it.

There has always been within me a prejudice against cats.  In fact, I loathe them.  Perhaps it was because of my childhood cat, Sarah. She was actually a boy but we didn’t know that until we took her to get spayed and they wound up neutering her)  We called her Twisted Sister after that.  Sarah would sleep at the end of my bed and anytime I would move my feet, she would swat my toes with her claws.  Needless to say I harbor bitterness toward felines.

A couple of weeks ago, a cat showed up at the doorstep of our church.  I petted it and later that day it followed me home.  So, we have tried to adjust to our new pet.  Hannah loves it. Josh, our once cat-hater now turned cat-lover, now enjoys his lap-cat.  Sonya’s allergic and I am sorry it ever followed me home.

So, I have been trying to give her away to anyone who will take her.  How come nobody wants a cat?  Maybe there are more people that don’t like cats than those that like them:)  So I have been thinking about what to do.

The other morning, this huge black cat shows up looking for Sassy… The whole family knew what that meant…kitty was in love with a black cat.  Not just any black cat but one that looked like the cat on Bewitched.  This cat is spooky.  After an unsuccessful trip to take her to the pound, I brought her home and we let her out last night.  Spooky, the black cat, was on the back porch looking for Sassy.  We let her out and haven’t seen her since.  I am hoping she eloped!