DISCLAIMER: For those who let their children read this, maybe this one's not appropriate. I'll be writing about adult content.



Wanna hear a sorrowful fact? The median age of a male losing his virginity is 16.9 years old and a female's is 17.4, according to http://www.kff.org/youthhivstds/upload/U-S-Teen-Sexual-Activity-Fact-Sheet.pdf. The CDC reports that about 60% of 12th graders have had sex and almost half of all high schoolers report having had sex. Those are the ones who have reported it...what of the teens too ashamed to report their sexual activity even to an anonymous survey? And don't think it's only heathen children who do. I knew several of my Christian friends who partook in this immorality. 
In a sick sad way, it makes sense that teenagers have sex. For one, it's the one sin the Bible says to flee from, which tells you how tempting it is. Add in the natural God-given hormones, and the fact some actually have overcome the temptation is unfathomable. Who wants to wait? I pondered and pondered and even asked a friend but could not for the life of me think of another God-given, good-for-you, pleasurable thing you must wait until adulthood to enjoy. NOTHING. Other things like responsibility and alcohol didn't fit the criteria: Must be good for you and pleasurable. I think that maybe since sex is such a unique subject, that's the reason Christians tend to taboo it. Sex is so tabooed, I questioned whether I should even write about the private matter in my blog.
Come on people! The Bible has a whole book on the subject. How evil can sex really be? Song of Songs is BEAUTIFUL, if not graphic. Sex was made for a man and woman joined together. Through it, we see a small glimpse of what the unity between the trinity is like ("...and the two are united into one" Genesis 2:24). 

While reading some of Song of Songs, there was one verse that stuck out, one that is repeated and mentioned word for word three times: "Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right." Throughout the book, you see this love story, this romantic and private poem between two lovers. Sex isn't a dirty thing. It's precious. So precious, one should not indulge before the appropriate time. God's time: once we're wed.
The world is so worried about STDs and pregnancy, but society holds little concern for the emotional and spiritual awakening that has happened far too soon.
Sex before marriage is like a child finding her Christmas present (let's say a doll) in her father's closet before the big day and choosing to play with the toy. Sure, her father had intended to give the doll to the child. He had planned to give it gladly. But how disappointed is the father now that the child has played with it too soon? And how much of a blessing has the child lost from not unwrapping the present under the tree that special day? Oh the joy that's now missing!

The schools will never talk to our children about this aspect. Churches might, but this lesson should come from the parents' lips. I learned about sex from my cousin. My cousin! School taught me the medical perspective, but nothing more. My grandparents (the ones who raised me) never spoke about it. Church taught me sex was taboo and dirty. Something I should experience later. Not enjoy, experience.
I waited...barely...but it wasn't easy. My body told me sex wasn't bad at all. In fact, my hormones screamed that it was the best thing ever. But, fortunately, I was terrified of getting pregnant or being viewed as a slut...I saw the way my fellow churchmates looked at my friend in the youth who had gotten pregnant. I didn't open the gift, but I certainly tore the wrapping a bit to see what was inside. Even that robbed me of some joy.

Would my motivation have been different is someone had explained to me that sex was a wonderful gift? A gift that the more I messed with, the less joy would come when I finally did open it? A precious jewel waiting just for me but later? Would I have remained entirely pure if an older woman had simply whispered, "Promise...not to awaken love until the time is right?" Maybe, maybe not. I'll never know.
I don't really know why God put this message upon my heart. Most of you readers are married or at least not hormonal teenagers. This doesn't exactly apply to you, but maybe passing this message along will bless someone you know...=)

Don't Forget

I can't believe I forgot to write my blog. It's still Wednesday so I'm not too late =). I'll have you know, this will be short and sweet...
Before the words you're reading now, I wrote quite a bit, but I had to erase it because I really had no good point. I was reading Ecclesiastes. Is that a depressing book or what? I admit, it's also insightful. Chapter 12 told me there are worse things than forgetting to write my blog. Sometimes I forget about God. I hate to admit something so terrible, but there are days that I don't think about God once. Please tell me I'm not the only one guilty of this...I don't talk about him; I don't read my Bible; I don't even pray the tiniest prayer. Some days are all about me. So pathetic...
This is what Ecclesiastes 12 says:

"Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and says, 'Life is not pleasant anymore.' Remember him before the light of the sun, moon and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. Remember him before your legs--the guards of your house--start to to tremble; and before your shoulders--the strong men--stoop. Remember him before your teeth--your few remaining servants--stop grinding; and before your eyes--the women looking through the windows--see dimly. Remember him before the door to life's opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all the sounds will grow faint. Remember him before your become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will week at your funeral. Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don't wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

It's so powerfully and beautifully put, I can't add a word to it. When reading this, I imagine an old, house-bound woman looking out the window and writing this as a letter to her children and their children. Oh, how my priorities can get so twisted. God should come first. He should be my first thoughts when I wake up and the last thoughts as I lay my head down on my pillow.

Psalms 92:2, "It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening."

I'm Tired

I had a plan for my next blog, but then I went to work. How was my day? I'm very tempted right now to use this blog as a venting devise against children. But I won't. Well, maybe. No. That would be wrong. Yeah, that kind of day. When I got home, I was a like a woman dipped in gasoline, and every word from my husband's lips was a lit match. Thus, when he laid down to nap, I did too...except on the couch. I HAD to get away, if only for 15 minutes.
The next three to four weeks ahead look insane. I have two weddings to help out with, softball games to play, music to prepare, blogs to write, VBS, July 4th with family, and that's only the big things. Little events creep in between the cracks like a line of marching ants: annoying and hard to kill. If I have hair in a month from now, it's probably a wig =).
By now, I'm sure you're saying/thinking, "Geez, girl, is this whole blog about you complaining?! I thought you said no dairy entries."
Very true. Believe it or not, I have a point. Life can get busy. It can be so tempting to go, go, go, go, go. But to go through life working and not stopping to rest is like writing this blog with no periods or comas eventually it becomes just a jumble of words that confuse instead of help do you see what I mean? No, to write well, I must take the TIME to work in the periods, comas, colons and such. To live life well, we must rest.
When I did a quick search for the Sabbath in the Bible, I found 138 hits. In Exodus through Deuteronomy, there are 33. Exodus 20 gives the ten commandments. You'll find that while all the other commandments take only one verse, keeping the Sabbath day holy takes three. The commandment is mentioned before all the ones society sees as huge: murder, adultery, stealing... If that doesn't say it's important to God, I don't know what else can.
No, I'm not saying you are a heathen if you work on Sunday. But, for your sanity, please say you have at least one day off. Romans 14:5 says, "In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable." Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Whatever. The point is that we must make time for rest. God gives us this commandment to help, not hinder us. Resting doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing. Jesus healed and his disciples pulled some grain. Guess what else Jesus did? He slept. When Moses told the people in Exodus 35:3 to not even build a fire, he meant only to prevent the people from heating their tools or melting metal as black smiths and plumbers did. That's work. He wasn't telling the people to starve and freeze.
You may or may not agree, but resting is a holy action and it honors God. If not, he wouldn't have rested himself or made a rule for us to do so. Let the Spirit lead you in this. See if God doesn't lead you to find a time for rest this week.

Wisdom

To me, my grandmother (mother's mother) was THE wisest woman on the planet. She was so calm and quiet. If I did something wrong, she never held a grudge and always gave me words of solid advice. I often wonder at what point wisdom will start to ooze out of every word I say? When I'm seventy? Eighty? It's almost as if there is a day in life where all our experiences form together into this halo of wisdom people can see shine from us.
I know it's ridiculous. Wisdom calls everyone. Maybe it's just that the older we get, the easier it is to listen.
Reading Proverbs 1, wisdom is like a little old lady saying, "I told you so." Seriously. The verses start off with Solomon advising his son to avoid evil people who wish to lure him into sin. Next wisdom is calling, "Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you and make you wise. (Pro 1:23)" Then, after the people ignored her for so long, wisdom gives up. "I called you so often, but you wouldn't come...So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you. (Pro 1:24...26)" Honestly, it's like what I say to the kids who decide to disobey the rules by jumping off the playground equipment and hurt themselves: "See, that's why the rules are there. You wouldn't be hurt right now if you had listened." I admit (and you may think I'm cruel), I hold almost no pity for them. I think my favorite verse is 1:31: "Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes." This is like "you reap what you sow,"  but it sounds far more disgusting.

There are so many words of wisdom out there. I bumped into one written by a 11 or 13 year old. It said, "Don't look at where you fell but where you slipped." Isn't that great for advising people on how not to fall into temptation again? And then there's the well-known saying "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." So true. However, the unfortunate reality is that not all wise old sayings are wise. Proverbs 2:6 says the Lord gives wisdom. Thus, if a wise saying isn't Biblical, it's not wise at all. It didn't come from the Lord.
When looking up wise sayings, I ran across a subject where the wise sayings (for the most part) weren't Biblical.  The subject was trust. Most sayings about trust either said not to trust people and to trust our hearts. HA. Jesus makes it perfectly clear our hearts are wicked. Mark 7:21 says, "For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder..." The list continues, but you get the point. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"
Today's music, movies, and television are all spurring this false wisdom. They say, "Follow your heart!" How many affairs and other sin has been the result of someone following his or her heart? It's so selfish, it's sick! We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22:37). We must control our hearts. Not the other way around. We should let the Spirit lead us. If we follow God, we're sure not to sin (Gal. 5:16).
Be careful when taking secular advice. By all means, it's not all bad. Sometimes, though, we confuse worldly wisdom with Godly wisdom. The two should not mingle.

Empathizing

Goodbyes are so hard. I've had to say goodbye to two friends in the last two months. They're moving away to do the Lord's work. They needed to leave, but I still feel a heaviness at the thought. Before they left, we've had good times, made wonderful memories. They leave with a hope of my seeing them again. Still, goodbyes are hard.

While eating out with one of these friends, I thought about how the disciples might have felt when Jesus ascended into Heaven. The Bible mentions the joy and wonder that they felt seeing Jesus alive, but do you think they were a bit sad when he rose to Heaven? In Acts, the apostles kept asking Jesus if the time had come for him to make things better on earth. I can't help but think this was them asking, at least partially, "will you stay?" When he ascended, the apostles kept standing there, looking up into Heaven. It says, "they strained to see him." An angel had to tell them that Jesus would return before they were willing to walk away. It reminds me of when I was little and had to say goodbye to my cousins when they stayed with me once a month. When my uncle or aunt drove away, I'd run to the edge of my yard and wave as they drove by. I wouldn't stop waving until their car was a tiny dot.

Jesus knew they would miss him. That may have been why he said, "And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

You might be asking, what's your point? Honestly, I don't have one. Saying goodbye to dear friends just made me think about Jesus's ascension and how the disciples must have felt. Usually when I read the Bible, I take in the instruction and when I get emotional, it's more to do with the Holy Spirit's work on my heart than actually empathizing with the characters. Until, of course, I face a situation that a character faced like saying goodbye.

I take comfort from understanding a Biblical character's pain, because I read about how God helped that person and can hope and trust God to help me too. That's what's amazing about the Old Testament. It's filled with stories about people going through similar situations. All the stories reveal God's faithfulness, mercy and even wrath. Sometimes I forget that Abraham and the others were real people with real problems whom God really blessed. By remembering that, I can find as much comfort from their story as from my best friend telling me how she went through the same thing.
So, if I must have a point, it's this: take comfort from knowing that the Bible IS NOT a work of Fiction. Know that God really did provide a ram for Abraham at the exact moment he needed one, and he can do the same for us.