Tozer Tuesday

Oops.

It is Wednesday. There goes my clever title.

Oh, well.

I am reading some A.W. Tozer this morning and am not feeling very clever in light of his wisdom. But I am spending these moments basking in truth and am grateful for the way we can clearly see God in his writings.

As my bible study ladies and I have studied God's attributes this weekend, I am finding that I am more thankful than ever for his immutability.

He will not change his mind on a whim.

He will stand firm like the mountain. Ha! Even a mountain will not stand as steadfastly as God, as we well know from recent events around the world.

I can trust him with everything.

Forever.

Do you have some favorite Tozer quotes? What is your favorite Tozer book?

God Will Not Compromise

God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. "I am the Lord, I change not."

We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth.

I ain't missin' you at all...

And I am big fat liar.

Because I miss T.V.

I think today is especially difficult because it is American Idol night.

Ryan will be there with his big, sparkly teeth and sharp witticisms.

Randy will be there with his deep, chuckly laugh and his "A'ight, dawg."

Simon will be there with his youth size 12 t-shirt and his smarmy winks.

Kara will be there with her....well, Kara will be there.

Ellen will be there, and that is just sad because I never really got to know American Idol-Ellen. But I'm sure I would have enjoyed her.

.

I have tried to focus on the good that is being accomplished because of giving T.V. up. But visions of tribal councils on scary,exotic islands and Tyra Banks saying, "Seven beautiful girls stand in before me..." keep interfering.

Yes, I have watched The Housewives of Orange County, okay? I am not proud of myself, but I am not going to be all fake-holy and say I don't know who Vickie is. I do. I'm feeling a little bit nauseous about it, but I do wonder how her real estate business is holding up in this recession time.

So there you have it. I am trying to do the right thing, but I miss the wrong thing.

I wish I could say that since T.V. has been off my house is spotless, I am eating better and exercising more, have lost 25 lbs and never looked better. (well, okay, I'm not gonna lie. Rod says I'm still lookin' fine.)

But Jesus is not more visible than before. My life is not filled up with feeding the poor, visiting those in prison and clothing the nekkid. I have no bible verses ready to hurl at this super-shallow, meaningless situation.

Nope. I just miss my imaginary friends.

And watching T.V. in bed with Rod when I am super tired. I really miss that AI theme music.

Ohh-ohh ohhh oh oh. I'll just hum it quietly to myself today.

As the tears fall.(tears are not really falling. I said that just for effect.)

Doctor, doctor, give me the news...

Actually, the doctor can't give you the news because we won't go. Well, not as often as we should, perhaps.

Sometimes, we will. Like when it is a "carpentry problem," as Dr. Grise puts it. Like when someone need spinal surgery because walking, standing, sitting or laying down are no longer options you want to experience, or perhaps a blood vessel in your neck dissects unexpectedly and bleeds into your brain.

THEN we go see the doctor.

But mostly we try to self-diagnose. It mostly works really well for us, unlike the time I diagnosed Rod with gas pains.

Yes, we did end up in the emergency room, and he did up having his gangrenous gall bladder removed, but the Tums I gave him initially worked for a short time. A minute or two, anyway.

And Rod may or may not remember it like that, so please don't bring it up to him. Also, he was on strong pain meds, so his memory of the events may not be as accurate as mine.

SO...

We also sometime self-diagnose the dogs. Because if we won't go to the doctor, why should they have to? Don't you all be hating on us now. We love our animals and treat them as well as we treat ourselves. Pretty much.

Which brings us to this...

Yes, he does look like he has been in a horrible skiing (snowboarding?) accident and two 5 year olds have been playing doctor with him.

I know he looks twice as miserable as usual, which is really saying something.

But, for the record, there is nothing wrong with his foot. We professionally bandaged it up like that so he can't scratch his neck. His neck is wrapped up like that because he got a small wound,possibly a tick bite, which became infected when he scratched it. Sad, I know. But not nearly so sad as he is making it out to be.

I know how impressed you are right now. Yes,that is pillow stuffing, Rod's sock and tape. Hello, McGyver.

But, shockingly, it didn't last. Here is what I found in the bathroom after I'd been working and couldn't keep a sharp eye on him.



Kinda reminds me of Lazarus coming out of the tomb. ButLazarus needed help getting out of his "grave clothes." Chopper did it all my himself.

Which brings us to this.

Yes, he is as gloomy as he looks.

Care packages may be sent to Chopper, c/o Diane.

He likes cheese.

Thank you.

This is nice

I have no idea why I start typing a post and really have no focus or plan. That seems wrong somehow. And it lets you in on a little bit of my crazy.

Welcome.

It was my birthday weekend, which, surprise-surprise, is right smack-dab in the middle of my birthday month. It's really nice how that worked out for me.

So Saturday night I had a delightful evening of dining with friends at one of my favorite restaurants, The Rendezvous. Delicious Northwest-type food, a pleasantly casual atmosphere and, oh, by the way, it is two minutes away from my house which means I could walk there. If I wanted to. I don't. And I won't ever. But I COULD.

The company was divine and we laughed for hours and closed the place down. (okay, it was 9ish, but still...we closed the place down. Don't take that away from us.)
Also we ate oysters. (no, I didn't, but Dennis did and he sat across from me, so seriously...it was almost as though I ate some. eeewww.)
And cat cheese. Which was goat cheese, but Rod said cat cheese which would be almost as gross as oysters.

ANYWAY....

Last night we met the kids and some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings for ....wait for it.....WINGS. Yum. We went there to watch the Trailblazers win. It was so loud, it sounded like we were at the game, except for we had WINGS. Yum.

Again, we had an excellent evening of food and family and laughing. So much fun.
No pictures because I did not bring the camera.

BUT if I had, you would have seen Rod's face when he slowly realised that he drenched, soaked, dumped and dipped his innocent wing into the scary-hot Blazin' wing sauce. We decided it was fire flavored...the blue part of the flame, because it is the hottest part. It was fitting.

Well, we didn't need to tell Rod that because he found out in the most unfortunate way....eating it. Josiah could not stop laughing as Rod's face got red, he began sweating and then his eye lids swelled. (Rod is fine, no need for prayers.)
Amy shoved her hamburger bun at Rod's mouth while Josiah continued guffawing.

In other news, Ashley made me a baby book for Max Riley. Maybe I should say that again.

Ashley MADE me a baby book for Max. (Max is Josiah and Ashley's baby who is due any moment,btw, and I will post about THAT in a day or two.)
I am astonished and impressed with people who can make things. Crafty people. I am not one.

It is beautiful and if Ashley would get on the ball and just have him already, I could begin filling the lovely, decorated pages with pictures of my grandson. :-)

Amy brought me the most gorgeous coffee mug from Starbux, THE OFFICE SEASON 5, hot salted caramel-chocolate, THE OFFICE SEASON 5, an exotic peanut satay sauce and....THE OFFICE SEASON 5.

I am not excited at all. But, if you try to call me today,you might need to leave a message because I have an urgent appointment at the Dunder Mifflin paper company. Please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I return.
BEEP.

Good-bye T.V.

I don't think I even remember how to do this blogging thing. But I will try. Because I have something to say.

We turned off the T.V. today.

This next sentence needs to be BIG, something that communicates the full extent of my despair.Because the television is black and quiet.

I am sad. So very sad. And lonely.

I miss Ryan Seacrest.

I wonder what Paula Deen is making? I know it has 23 pounds of butter in it. Bless her heart.

What is happening on Lost? (cross out that one. I could be watching it and still not know.)

So a while back we began talking about turning off the television. Well, ROD began talking about it and I "listened supportively" and then made some popcorn and turned the channel.

Then he told me that we would have money to support two more children in Uganda through Compassion International if we used the Dish Network funds.

So I began weighing my options:

A:a fun filled evening of reclining on my fluffy pillows and watching America's Next Top Model. Good times.

or

B:helping feed a hungry child in Africa

A:hours spent relaxing and laughing with my bff's Jim, Pam, Kevin, Dwight Shrute and Michael Scott on The Office. Oh the fun we've had.

or

B: helping house and educate a four year old girl named Esther in Uganda who has no mother.

A: Cheering on my teams during football season while snacking on Crack dip and pizza.

or

B: Letting a 13 year old fatherless boy in Uganda know that Jesus is alive and loves him, and because of that a family in Oregon cares enough about him to write letters and send money faithfully every month.

I am honestly so ashamed and humiliated to confess that I had to think about these choices long and hard. I may have even shed a tear or two. Seriously.

Nothing is inherently wrong with watching T.V.

But I think I have used it like a drug since I was a kid. I usually tell myself the show I am watching is so brainless it can't be harmful or I don't agree with everything in this, but it's not that bad. I drape myself across a bed or recliner and snuggle up with my brain candy.

At the end of the day,it has been my comfort place, my reward, my refuge.

Wow.

Typing those words just hit me like a sledge hammer.

T.V. has totally been my idol.

I have been trying to get my comfort from reality television.

"God is our refuge and strength always ready to help in times of trouble." Psalm 46:1

"I, yes, I am the One who comforts you." Isaiah 51:12

"God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in our troubles so we can comfort others." 2nd Corinthians 1 :3-4

I'll be forced to be more intentional about choosing what things to spend my time on, and attempting to ensure that I better recognize God's kingship in my life.

In the end, Esther and Godfrey beat out Ryan Seacrest, Paula Deen and Tyra Banks.

Hands down.

.