Wednesday, August 22

Paparazzi

Posted by Andrea
Read Ephesians 5:1-21


I don’t always take parenting advice from celebrities. Generally their opinion and mine are just a little different. But just this once, I thought some was worth passing along. Don’t worry. I won’t make it a habit.


This morning I channel surfed through a bunch of garbage (I’m sick and my husband is running the house today. This doesn’t happen often) and paused on Jamie Lee Curtis talking to a bunch of women on a talk show. I stopped long enough to hear her say, “Children are like paparazzi. They take your picture when you’re not looking and they show it to you later in their behavior.”

Wednesday, August 8

At the Well

Read John 4:4-42

By Andrea


High noon in Samaria, as with most places in the middle east, is not the best time to be fetching water. If one needs water, one should go in the early hours of the morning so the work of carrying it back to one’s tent can be over with by the time the sun is at it’s highest point and working toward its highest temperature.


But a certain woman proceeded to Jacob’s well to draw water anyway. She came at this time of day to avoid the crowd. The chatter of the other women. The gossip. The snide glances and the feeling that she just didn’t belong with them.


As she approaches the well, she sees a man sitting beside it. Her steps falter for a moment. She is not in the mood to encounter a person. Especially not a Jew, as she can tell he is from a glance.
She knows she can expect one of two reactions from the man. This man at the well will turn his head and ignore her in dignified silence. Or he will watch her, disdain painted on his features letting her know that he knows why she is here at noon instead of in the morning with all the other women. His expression will scream that she is the lowest of the low. A fact she is well aware of without anyone, especially a Jew, reminding her of, thank you very much.


She should be used to it by now. But she has to summon her courage anyway.
The man looks up at the sound of her advancing, hesitant foot steps and does something quite unexpected.


“Will you get me a drink?”


She looks around wondering if he could possibly be talking to her, then decides to remind him of the obvious before it’s too late and he accidentally catches some Samaritan cooties from the water jug.


“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”


The implication, “Do you know who I am?!” Hangs in the air, and I imagine Jesus smiling at her.


“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”


Jesus has a pattern of speaking in patient parables. It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who I am.


“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”


Is she awed by him? Is that why she asks him if he is greater than Jacob?


Or is she done. Worn out and tired of pretending. Does sarcasm drip from her words instead of worship? Maybe.


Jesus answers, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”



It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who I am.



I hear sarcasm again in her reply. “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” The response of an exasperated woman who only wants to draw water in peace and quiet without being ridiculed by some holier-than-thou Jew.


He tells her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”


“I have no husband,” she snaps.


Jesus watches her intently even as she keeps her eyes on the task of lowering the jug into the deep well. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”


It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who I am.


Her breath catches, but she doesn’t look up. How could he know that? He could know that. Everyone knows that. So she plays along, not ready to give up the bitterness that comes with being long oppressed. “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”


When Jesus utters the phrase, “Woman, believe me,” she looks up. How can she not? The words are packed with authority, power and… was that compassion? “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” He answers carefully, letting her know her question was a worthwhile one that he cares enough to address. “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” He emphasizes the word from and continues, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” He is for you, too, he tells her with his words and his eyes.


The woman wants to believe him. “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”


A great grin spreads across the face of the man at the well. “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”


Other men pick that very moment to swarm him. His words ring in her ears. Her mouth hangs open. She doesn’t even care what these other Jews are saying about her.


It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who I am.


The water jar drops to the ground with a thud. She recognized him now. She believes him. And she ran.


Surely the disciples thought she was running away in shame. But her shame was the last thing on her mind when she accosted the first people she met. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”


She didn’t wait to be baptized or commissioned or perfect. When she knew she was face to face with the Messiah, she ran and spread the word to an entire town who probably held her, the worst of sinners, in contempt. Unashamed, she told them to come see this man who could be the Messiah.


Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”


It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who I am.


Let’s learn from her today. Her testimony made a splash because she didn't wait around to be worthy of worshiping Jesus. She didn't cherish the knowledge in her heart and keep it to herself. She spread the word and "many Samaritans believed." Because the offer of salvation extended passed the Jews even to the despised and unworthy Samaritans, we can still feel the effect of one woman's ripple.


It doesn’t matter who we are. It matters who He is.

Monday, August 6

Bring On Monday

Be encoured when you read Psalm 118:15-29




It's here. Whether we want it or not. Monday is happening.



"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!??" 

Psalm 118:24



You didn't wake up with this on your mind? No? More like, "Where's my coffee and is that the smell of day-old-poo from the garbage that needs to be taken out or is that the smell of fresh poo with one of my kids starting the day out as stinky as I feel?



I recently typed out "a day in the life." An average day for me at home with my kids. From 4am when I was up to feed the baby to 11pm that night when I crawled exhausted into bed. "Crying" was mentioned roughly 14 times. Even though I added some light-hearted comments about how cute my kids are, how lovely the park was, and how blessed I feel to have this life, I was still left looking at my tiring tirade thinking, "Who would willingly sign up for this?"








We are in the trenches my mama friends. We wake up each day knowing this is going to be tough, knowing something will break, be ruined, someone will cry, we'll be stretched, and argued with... and that's just at breakfast.



How do we equate "this is hard! I don't want Monday" with "let us rejoice and be glad in it"? 






Our God has us right where we need to be. Everyday trials aren't a surprise to him.


My youngest, Tommy,
seizing the day.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, 

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 

plans to give you hope and a future." 

Jeremiah 29:13



This day is full of promise. Full of hope. The trenches might be full of messes, but they are also full prosperity. Prosperity? Really?



To prosper means to be fortunate or successful, to thrive.



When we look for it, it is there in this hard Monday. All the fortune and success, it's buried sometimes under tears, sometimes in piles of laundry, and mostly in a change of perspective. It really is, but it is a choice to look at God's blessings. Dwelling on beauty brings delight.



"This the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice [to find joy and delight] in it [Monday]."



To find joy and delight! The day will come whether we want it to or not. Rejoicing isn't going to come and find you today -- you have to find it. Find it in the moments in this ordinary day. These awesome coming minutes and hours were given by God, the Lord who has plans for you, to prosper you and to give you a hope and future.


Let's thrive in the day we have. Prosperity awaits....








Written by Alysun P.







Wednesday, August 1

10,000 Reasons

Please read Psalms 103 


I would like to introduce you to my new favorite song. I have lots of favorites, but this one lately has been doing a number on my soul.  If you've been reading Drops for a while, you may recall many references to Ann Voskamp's wonderful book One thousand Gifts.


Well here is another one.


To bless means to return thanks. This song reminds me to return thanks constantly, throughout the day, into the night, "whatever may pass, whatever lies before me." I love it and think it should be required daily listening. Songs like this are why I have added worship music to my morning devotions. Reading God's word settles my spirit. Talking to him renews my spirit. Singing his praises gets the music stuck in my head and he revives my spirit through song all day long. I love that. Songs stay stuck in my head the way words on a page seldom do. (I'm not reducing God's word to words on a page, but once I'm done in 2nd Chronicles for the day, I'm done with 2nd Chronicles for the day}.

So listen to Matt Redman sing 10,000 Reasons and let it get stuck in your head today. And think about what you have to return thanks for.

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name



The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes



You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find


And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name








Written by Andrea L