Tracy's Blog

Who are these people?  Well, they are two little guys that were made by Tim's group in Vacation Bible School this week.  The theme this year is "Maker Fun Factory: Created by God, Built for a Purpose" and each group had 3 minutes to create a person out of random craft supplies.  I like them because they are unique (even though all groups had the same supplies) and simple.  There is something humble about them and that is a virtue I am purposely trying to seek out right now. Humility hasn't always been on my radar.  As a child I don't think I even knew the definition of the word.  Maybe I would have said, "not proud".  Once I began to seek God more wholeheartedly as a young adult, I was confronted with these words of Scripture: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6) Well, I knew where I wanted to be in relation to God - a receiver of grace so I humility became a goal.  But I can't say that I was drawn to...

How do you take correction?  This has been a struggle for me in my life and I know why.  Pride.  My pride doesn't want to be wrong.  My pride wants to the be the one with the right answers and who does things the right way.  Humility, on the other hand, says, "Thank you for showing me my error."  "Thank you for teaching me what is right."  "Thank you for leading me into truth."  I don't remember exactly when in my adult life I became aware of how deep my hatred of correction was but it was one of those sort of shocking discoveries.  And a very important one. Today I am writing about correction because I had an interesting experience while reading the Bible the other day.  Here is what happened.  A devotional book I am using directed me to Matthew 10:1-10.  Included in it is the list of disciples that Jesus sent out. Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Phili...

I have a confession to make.  Actually I have two and they fit under the two different categories of confessions in the Bible: a confession of sin and a confession of faith I love that a confession can be either of those things and they go so well together.  A confession is essentially a profession or acknowledgement of something.  Confessing is the act of making this profession or acknowledgement.  It is saying something .  Something that really matters. So when we confess our sin, we are admitting to it, acknowledging that what we said, thought, or did was against God's right ways.  When we confess our faith, we are stating what we believe about God. Two famous verses that go along with the two types of confessions are: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  (1 John 1:9 KJV - the way I first memorized it) "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and b...