America, America!

America, America!
God shed His grace on thee. 
And crown thy hood with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea

America as a nation in general is disappointing.  We are fat, lazy, selfish, faithless, liars, sinners, thieves, always worried about getting ahead.  The internet, TV, billboards, posters, radio is all filled with sex, homosexuality, and filth.  Can you tell it's depressing me? I don't know if i'm just now noticing it or what, but it's all over the place, in my face and penetrating right through my heart.  For example:  I was walking through the mall the other day and passed a H-U-G-E sign on the bath and body works wall of a naked woman.  No, I could not see anything because she was covering them up with her arm, but still.  I was like what the crap?!  Our poor boys and men... they are bombarded with it right and left... can't even walk through the freakin mall without seeing a naked woman.  Geez.  So then last night I was watching Law and Order SVU, one of my most favorite shows and one of the only shows I ever watch.  If you don't know... they are the special victim's unit... so they handle rape cases.  After I watched two episodes of disturbing rape cases... i thought to myself  "why did I just watch that??" Really... it is not uplifting in the least bit and it only makes me afraid.  Stupid.  And not only that... they had some really not so right comments about pornography and how it's ok.  Anyway... all that to say, I shouldn't watch it anymore.  Lately I've seen and heard stuff constantly.  I think society, and Christians too have become numb to all of the filth in our lives.  Oh, they're sleeping together? Oh well... it's just reality.  Oh, there's graphic sex scenes in this movie? Oh well... i'll just fast forward it.  Oh, he's gay?  Oh well, nothing we can do about it... that's just how he is.  Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.  Yes, there is grace and forgiveness, but there is also still God's wrath.  And I am sad thinking about what will happen to our country if we don't start praying and repenting. 

I have been reading the New Testemant, but wanted a little break.  I was ready to read some stories.  So I landed on 1 Kings (The Message).  Odd book to just land on right?  It has really been a breath of fresh air and quite convicting for me.  It starts out with David on his death bed and him passing the crown on to his son, Solomon.  So then Solomon asks for wisdom from God and God is really happy that he asked for that instead of wealth or long life... so God decides He will give him the wisdom and also throws in the wealth and long life because He was so pleased with Solomon's request.  It then goes into the story of how Solomon builds the Temple.  In great detail it describes the extravagance of this place.  It sounds really beautiful and Solomon says in 8:12 that God will dwell in this place.  It took him 7 years to build the Temple.  At first, I closed my bible and sat there on the couch... legs crossed, ready for work and started praying... "God, thank you for this day... " and I stopped... all of the sudden the words I read began to stir my heart.  I fell to my knees and told God I was sorry for not giving Him the praise he deserves.  That I just read how Solomon and David loved and worshiped God and were in constant Awe of Him and His beauty and His power, and I should too.   It was one of those moments in life where you stop, step back, and re-evaluate how you do things, how you pray. 

On a little lighter note... We are headed for Guatemala on Saturday.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  I think it will be life changing and I'm so excited to be able to experience a mission trip with Stephen.  This is his first overseas trip.  Please be praying for our team and the people we will be ministering to.