You aren't the alpha dog...

and neither am I !

There is a wonderful, ornery quote attributed to Hanna Smith that goes like this:
"Unless you are the lead dog, the scenery remains the same."

None of us is the lead dog. There is only one lead dog, and He is God. He is the alpha and the omega; He is the One who created each of us and who is sovereign over our lives and the lives of all created beings in the universe. That translates into: You are not in charge, and neither am I!

There are all sorts of ramifications to this. One, we don't really like reading that, let alone believing that. We like to think that we are the captains of our own ship, the drivers of our own car, the decision makers of this journey we find ourselves on. Like it or not, God's design, knowing what we are like, is to plant Himself firmly at the top of the food chain. He knows that without Him, we spin and spin and really have no purpose to our lives. 

Like the many dogs in a sled of dogs, someone has to be leader. Someone has to know the appropriate direction to travel, the one that will result in true happiness and attainment of important goals. In order for is to maximize our potential in this fleeting life, we really have to surrender the reins to One who knows us best and knows what is best for each of us.

This isn't easy. It is never really easy to lose oneself as primarily important. Think of the number of times one uses the pronouns I, me, we, us, mine, etc. We tend to live in the first person. We are called to give glory to God. To live lives that reflect His power, His truth, His righteousness... I could go on. He has called us to glorify Him so that we don't glorify ourselves because self-glorification is blinding and purposeless. 

He created each of us, having been a part of a family relationship with His Son and with the Holy Spirit, a relationship that means everything to Him. The happiness there in and God's natural openness to communicating with His created made Him want a larger, more inclusive family; the family of God. It is a family whose membership requires being secondary, being humble, being aware that Jesus, the Son of God, is our Lord and our King. If you are the lead dog, you cannot and will not attribute power of another.

But that isn't the issue because you aren't and neither am I. So relinquish, submit, honor, become humble and take joy in the fact that He knows what is best and wants you to be His child.

Praise our God!

We all need laser surgery

Not a big fan of surgery! I have been so blessed in life to, at this point, only have had two experiences many years ago. I did undergo laser surgery performed by the Great Physician, and I would like to offer it to anyone who needs it. It is painless and life-preserving!

This is a surgery of the heart, a surgery that shines the laser of hope and grace into hearts that are darkened by the absence of God. You see, there is an incompleteness about those people whose heart does not contain a fill-up by the Holy Spirit of God. Every human heart desires to be filled with the glory of God's healing light. When one is without this light, he or she is swimming upstream against the ravages of sin and loneliness. We can be fooled by the evil one and society into thinking that we can make it on our own, that we can be good enough people to make a difference and end up in Heaven.

Not true, unfortunately. No amount of good deeds can sustain us against a God who hates our sin and is completely aware of each evil deed and thought. We are deserving of wrath and lost from His desire to be in relationship with us. Enter the Gospel and the Great Physician. While He is a powerful God who sustains everything and is fully sovereign, He is also a God of love and reconciliation. It's a weird combination, but it truly benefits those of us who know our condition and yearn for the chance to remove the barriers and be adopted into the Family of God.

He must begin the process; yet, we have to be aware of Him and respond to His wooing. In a magical way, He fills us, simultaneously, with the recognition and with the understanding of His glory and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's obvious in so may ways; we have to "see" it and open our hearts to the Spirit. The rest is up to a wonderful surgeon who truly knows what he is doing.

No health insurance needed, here. You need not call for an appointment. Just get on your knees and listen, carefully. Then surrender to the power and the glory of the God of the Universe. You are covered; He is ready.

Praise our God!