Aaah, flying (or not)...

I flew to Chicago on Wednesday... my flight was delayed 45 minutes and then we had to wait on the plane 45 minutes before we took off. It was a bit frustrating, but I would find only 2 days later that it was no big deal! Today my flight was delayed 30 minutes before we boarded.... we were locked on the plane, in our seatbelts for over 4 hours before we took off! Not in the airport... on the airplane! Planes were not allowed to depart for Minneapolis and by the time they were, planes weren't allowed to depart to the north from Chicago. It was a back and forth journey of "pretty soon", "oops not yet", "OK, pretty soon."

I rarely fly to Chicago because I figure driving takes about as long. Its 6.5 hours from my house... when I fly, it's 1.5 hours to the airport, get there 1 hour early, 1 hour to fly, then 30-60 minutes to leave the airport and get where I'm going. Plus, when I drive I'm in control of the radio, bathroom, leg room, etc. But this time I chose to fly.... I chose poorly.

In life we all choose poorly from time to time. Sometimes its more obvious and we knew we were choosing poorly at the beginning. Sometimes the choice seems OK at the time, but only in hindsight becomes the wrong choice. As we go through life, we are promised that we have the Holy Spirit to help lead and guide us - we all need to figure that out a bit more for those decisions where there is no clearcut answer. What I want to make sure I don't mess up is those choices where the decision is obvious and I still choose poorly. How can I worry about the unobvious decisions when I'm still struggling with making the right obvious choices?

May we be bold enough to make the right choices when we know what they are and diligent enough to seek the Holy Spirit for those decisions that aren't so obvious.

Shedding from the Son

About a week and a half ago, I went fishing (big surprise) for about 3 hours. Since I was in the back channels, it was safe to go shirtless and not scare anyone. I didn't realize I was burning until I got home and my kids made some comments. A few days later I started molting like a snake; I thought it was kind of cool; my kids thought it was gross although enjoyed pulling skin off me; my wife was angry I let it happen.

What came to mind is how our sinful nature is crucified with Christ. Through the glory of the Son, our junk gets burned and removed like the skin off my body. Peeling the skin or watching it fall off of me gave me a picture of how we become transformed through the renewing of our mind to the things of God (Hebrews 12). As we are exposed to the power of the Son, we are forced to change. Sometimes the end result is painful (sunburn, etc) and sometimes the result is the beauty of bronze. Sometimes there is visible evidence of exposure to the Son (peeling, burn, tan) while sometimes there is just a warming of the heart and a lifting of the spirits.

I'm not sure sure the analogy is holding together, but anything that reminds me of how good it is to take the time to be exposed to the Son is worth getting excited about. God bless you all in great and might ways. May we all take the time to let the Son soak in and renew our minds, transform our hearts, and get passionate about sharing His glory with others. Be strong & courageous you adopted children of God!