A's And B's

lyricoc@yahoo.com

When I became a Christian, at the age of 30, I thought that I should immediately be flawless, It didn’t take long to see that I wasn’t.  So when I would have what some people call; bad luck, right away I would think that God was mad at me and I was getting what I deserved.  I even got to the point where I felt that bumping my head, burning dinner, or getting a flat tire was punishment for not being able to do everything that I felt I should be doing as a Christian.
   
I can clearly remember praying,  “God, why can’t I do this Christian stuff?”  I wanted to be perfect, NOW!  I  struggled with these feelings until God used my nine year old daughter, Elizabeth, to help me through this.
   
I was having another one of those days when everything was going wrong.  Because of this, I was angry with myself for not being good enough.  I felt I must have brought all the bad things on myself.  This thought had been going through my mind all day.  What a shock I got when later that night , on her way to bed, Elizabeth tripped and fell, and what she said to me were the exact words I had used in a prayer to God that morning.  Liz said, “Why is everything going wrong?  Why am I always getting hurt?”  She went on to say, “I must be a bad girl and deserve to be hurt.”  All my thoughts about me being bad went out of my head and all I could think of was comforting and encouraging her, “No, you’re not a bad girl.  You need to be more careful and watch what you are doing.  You also need to get some sleep, it’s late and you are tired.”  I could see that she wasn’t convinced, she was still feeling frustrated.  Liz said, “Mom, I just can not do anything right.”  She added, “I’m just stupid.”  I knew that wasn’t true, but I didn’t know how to convince her of that.  Then something that had happened in her class at school, came to mind.
   
Elizabeth had been having some trouble learning her times tables.  But she practiced hard, and soon after, her teacher said that she was getting A’s and B’s on all her papers.  I reminded her of what her teacher had said, and added, “If you were stupid you wouldn’t be getting such good grades now.”  I told her that when things are new to us, they may seem hard.  We might make a lot of mistakes, but if we practice and don’t give up we will get our A’s and B’s.
   
At that moment, it was like a light bulb went on in my head.  I could tell that God was using Liz to talk to me.  He was answering my questions , comforting and encouraging me, as He was giving me the answers to comfort and encourage my daughter.  God really does speak to us in many different ways.  That night I learned not to be hard on myself, perfection comes through Jesus.  I also learned that it takes time, practice and percervence with God’s help to do something new, well.  And that does include living a Christian life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Catalina

Lyricoc@yahoo.com

When we are guilty of one sin, we are guilty of them all.  James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all.”  If you tell a lie but do everything else just right, and you judge someone else who is steeling and fornicating, you might as well be steeling and fornicating as well.  
     
But the good news is because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are forgiven of all our sins.  That also means we can’t claim to be righteous by the good works we do and I would think that the closer you become to being like Jesus, the harder it is to stay humble.  We all want to think of ourselves as doing well, but the truth is that All have sinned and fall short.  So we are all equally guilty and we are all equally forgiven, if we ask, a humbling thought.
     
There is a story about three guys standing on the pier at Huntington beach.  The first guy ran a bit and jumped straight out into the ocean.  He yelled up, “Hey, I did pretty good!”  

The second guy stepped back and ran a few feet and jumped out and again, straight into the ocean just farther then the first guy, he yelled, “I did better!”  

The third guy got quite a bit of a running start and then out and down into the ocean.  He boasted, “I did the best!”  

One of the on lookers yelled down to the men, “What are you doing?”  

The men yelled back, “We are jumping to Catalina Island.”
     
When we do good, sometimes we want to boast.  But for us to be as good as Jesus, is as hard as trying to jump off Huntington pier to Catalina, Impossible, on our own.  Only through the blood of Jesus can we claim to be righteous.  So when we get that urge to boast, boast of Jesus and his unequaled goodness and power.
     
1 Corinthians 1:30 and 31, “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus , who has become for us wisdom from God- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption therefore, as it is written: let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Carol

lyricoc@yahoo.com

I love my sister, Carol, She’s funny, smart and easy going.  The thing that has always impressed me the most about her is that she always has something good to say about everyone.  I also had a friend that had bad things to say about people.  At one time I found her interesting.  I listened to all the gossip she had on everyone and found myself joining right in.
     
One day it hit me, if this friend is saying bad things about other friends, to me, I wonder what she is saying about me behind my back.  I started to feel uncomfortable every time I was with her.  I was conscious of every move I made, always wondering if she was going to pick out something negative to say about me, when I wasn’t around.  I didn’t like the way that made me feel.
     
And then there was Carol, what I saw in her made me feel good.  I always knew that if she brought up my name when I wasn’t around it would be to say something positive that she saw in me.
     
My prayer is that in Christ those character qualities that so impressed me about my sister, Carol, will also be seen in me.