the power of love

"It is because selfishness exists in our hearts that temptation has power over us. But when we behold the great love of God, selfishness appears to us in its hideous and repulsive character, and we desire to have it expelled from the soul. As the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ, our hearts are softened and subdued, the temptation loses its power, and the grace of Christ transforms the character."

Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 118

So it must be that because selfishness hasn't been completely excluded from our lives we are given into temptation. We haven't totally given ourselves to God. What a formidable thought.

Lord, help me to unselfishly look to you.

dreams for Sally

Lorrie and I came back from the pops concert to prepare for a Bible study on salvation we were team teaching to Sally the next day. It was late. We were tired. We wrote an outline for ourselves, picking out key verses and tried to come up with examples and analogies that Sally would understand. One of our verses was Romans 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." We tried to think of a story where we had received grace. It shouldn't be that hard, right? We were drawing blanks. Lorrie suggested that we move on, and maybe think of a story in the morning when our minds were fresher. After we finished our outline, I took Lorrie home, and went to bed. I had a most interesting dream...

Lorrie, Christy, and I were driving down the highway from North River church when a white car abruptly cut in front of us (which actually did happen yesterday). Somehow, it became the next day. Lorrie and I were driving somewhere in front of Southern. I saw blue lights in my rear view mirror. Oh no...I pulled over. I definitely wasn't speeding. The officer who pulled me over was young :). He was giving me a ticket for yesterday on the highway. Apparently he was going to pull over the white car who cut me off, but instead decided to pull me over (the next day). I was going 10 miles over the speed limit. (I would just like to interject here that I hate how the drivers here think the speed limit on 75 is like 70.) I tried to talk him out of a ticket. "But officer...I was only going 65, and everyone was passing me!" This did nothing. I began to dread calling my parents to tell them I had gotten a ticket. I remembered my mom's gentle reminder when I left NY that tickets make insurance go way up. My parents have never gotten a ticket. Here I was breaking the record at 21 getting my first ticket. I begged some more with the officer. It was later in the day now, and we ended up in his police car. We were all sitting in the front seat--I was in the middle and Lorrie was in the passenger seat. I tried one more time. I told him "You have give me a break! You see, we're doing a Bible study tomorrow, and we need an example of grace. If you let me off the hook with no ticket, I can use this experience as an example!"

I never found out if he bestowed grace upon me or not. Thomson, Joel, Lorrie, and I went today to give Sally her Bible study at Patten towers. We informed Thomson and Joel that one of them had to tell a story where they received something undeserving--a grace story. Sally's room--the eleventh floor. I rang the doorbell and knocked. Silence. Thomson knocked harder. Finally we hear Sally croak, "Hold on!" She gets closer. "Who is it?" "It's us, Sally!" "Oh! You can't come in today! I'm sick. I have a temperature of 103. I don't want you guys to get sick." Her normally hoarse voice sounded worse. My heart sank. You see, when we came to study the Bible with Sally last week, she wasn't too sure about it. We were hoping that this week would be better. I asked her if she needed anything. No. I told her we'd come back next week. Pray for Sally...that she gets better, that she yields to God's Spirit, and that she is strong against Satan's attacks.