Which star are you?

Greetings Fairy Followers,

The B.D.F. has vivid memories of her trips to camp. One night our speaker sent us out into the night and told us to lay on our backs and find the brightest star in the sky. Once we had located the North Star we each took turns describing which star in the sky we were in relation to that one and why. Were we close and working to become closer? Were we dim and struggling to make light? Were we working so hard to be bright that we were close to burnout?

We came back together as a group and our speaker explained his choice. He said that he had pegged himself as the moon because the sun was the brightest star in our sky and the moon made no light of it's own but only reflected the light of the sun.

This past week we talked about Old School Jesus in Judges. The Israelites were proficient at losing focus. They were as easily distracted as a first grader sitting by the window and they fell into a pattern:

Israel serves the Lord,

Israel falls into sin and idolatry,

Israel is enslaved,

Israel cries out to the Lord,

God raises up a Judge,

Israel is delivered

I like the way it starts and ends...but could we maybe skip a couple of those steps in the middle? Could we serve the Lord without falling away? Not without His constant help and guidance. Not without learning how to reflect the Son instead of striving to shine in our own glory.

Blessings, The B.D.F.

One Marshmallow or Two?

Greeting Fairy Followers,

We kicked off of our discussion of Old School Jesus in Deuteronomy with this video of the Marshmallow test. The ultimate in delayed gratification.



What would you have done? Could you have waited to eat the first to earn the second?

How about now? Are you willing to deny yourself things that seem good now to earn God's best?

This world is only the first marshmallow - with a whole truck load to come.

Blessings, The B.D.F.

Jesus in Numbers

Greeting Fairy Followers,

Your sin will find you out and there will be consequences.

That was one of the main themes when we looked at Jesus in Numbers. Now, I'm not calling Shuffle Your Buns "sinful" but there certainly were consequences for using the chairs in the grotto in a manner more rough than they were intended to be used. Maybe one of my followers could let P.A. know that this game should only be played with chairs with no arms!

The Israelites had to learn this lesson over and over again. In Numbers chapter 21, they disobeyed God. Then God, very justly, sent them a gang of snakes as punishment.

Many times when we sin and then are consequenced, we get mad at God. When we experience an unplanned pregnancy because we chose to engage in sex outside of marriage we ask, "Why me?" When we wind up in the hospital after a car accident because we were driving too fast, we beg for healing. Even lamenting our lack of money when we choose not to work for it, or spend it unwisely.

These consequences are the result of our sin and God lets us experience them to remind us that His ways are the best.

The true blessing, however, is that while He may let us experience the full brunt of our sin, He is always ready to forgive. When the people realized their error and asked for forgiveness, God provided a way by having them lift their eyes to a bronze snake (the universal symbol for the medical profession, by the way).

And today 1 John 1:9 tells us that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

God wants us to be in a relationship with him. When we sin against God in any number of ways, we break that fellowship with Him. God will go to great lengths to get us back to him. Our sin was crucified on the cross. John 3:15 And this was not in shame but done in GLORY.

Are you in the midst of a consequence right now? Are you complaining about it? Take some time this week to rejoice that God isn't content to let you stay in your sin and praise Him for it.

Blessings, The B.D.F.