Stirring up gifts - without fear

We're all familiar with 2 Timothy 1:7 which tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a sound mind. What caught my attention this weekend while listening to 2 Timothy on mp3 was the combination of verse 6 and verse 7. What does Paul tell Timothy in verse 6? He says to "stir up the gift of God that is in you."

What gifts or calling has God given me? Am I not using them because of fear? In my case, yes. I had to stop and ask what the Lord was asking me to do and remind myself to do that without fear. God has given us a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. He says it. I get to believe it. (Oh, Lord, help me believe!)

On regular news: my interns got back from India yesterday about 6pm. They went straight to bed last night and slept almost non-stop until 3 this afternoon. I napped, read, visited Auntie Candy, watched Mulan with a friend, took a bike ride with Jes this afternoon (to make sure she was tired enough to sleep tonight), and am now catching up electronically.

Auntie Candy had surgery Friday to repair a torn rotator cuff. So when I visited her and her sister Jacy, she was hooked up to a fancy cooler ($250!!) that was running cold water to the shoulder aircast.

Candy: "My last cooler motor died after only two surgeries and they wouldn't repair it. They made sure to tell me this one only had a 6 month warranty."

Jacy: "My rice cooker has a longer warranty than that!"

Thankful Friday

Well, thanks to Jaime for passing on the reminder to be thankful! I'm quite tempted to turn my list of thanksgiving into a complaining list: my Thur/Fri heldpesk staff got transferred to the Canadian office (doesn't that sound official, Jess?), I almost got hit by a car while biking home from work today, and my desktop admin is on vacation Mon/Tues.

But...I'll look at things from the thankful side!

• Praise God that I've had Jess to help me with helpdesk for the last six months and praise God for the last 5 years of her work on purchse orders!
• Praise God that Lena is trained to take over her work and I don't have to make time to do it!
• Praise God that my coworkers get time off to be with their families!
• Praise God that we have beautiful weather the last two weeks for biking and mowing the lawn!

and not last and not least...

• Praise God for Oreos and milk!
  

<poke>Update</poke>

Okay, okay! I'm updating my blog.

I left prayer meeting this evening and dropped off a couple friends at their home before randomly stopping at my favorite coffee shop. I stop there about every 2-3 months, so not real frequently. I ordered a cup of chai and curled up with a copy of Touching Godliness Through Submission. I wished I had my laptop so I could blog. It was that kind of feel-good, relaxed, thankful evening. I think I felt more like "myself" today than I have in a long time.

A 20-something girl stopped in to order a drink and I couldn't get her out of my mind. She sat down outside with a male friend, so I stopped to talk to them on my way out. We started talking about spiritual beliefs and in the next hour, Sara and Brandon and myself transitioned from strangers to friends. They are seeking spiritual truth and know much about the Bible and even more about other religions. I think both (or at least Brandon) were raised in church, but they aren't following the Lord right now. Please pray for them.

Other random prayer and praise:

• Jes and Cas are in India right now. They left for India on the 13th and return this Saturday. Pray for grace as they arrive back and re-adjust to the internship stateside.
• Both Jes and Cas are praying about the Lord's will for them after internship graduation in December. You can pray for them about this too. Hey, you can pray for me about this too.
• Persecution is sky-high in different parts of India. And it's not just a random case here or there - it's highly organized and damaging. Here's an (incomplete) itemized list of damage in Orissa, India. Churches burned and bombed, dozens killed, thousands forced from homes into jungles and refugee camps, nuns raped, orphanages destroyed... The mainstream media has overlooked this is now reporting that things are calming down, but it continues. Here's today's report from Mission Network News. Persecution in pictures.
• The planned evangelism outreach didn't happen due to Hurricane Ike moving in, so we volunteered at Mission Arlington as they were helping house Hurricane Ike evaccuees. You can see our shining faces here. :)
• Post too long. Bedtime too late. Ending now.
• After humorous link of the day. Etiquette rules for traveling by stagecoach.

Daily Life

I spent this afternoon dressed in 70's garb for a college friend's birthday party. (Happy Birthday, Michael!) It was good to hang out with him and his family and with the Schweplers (who drove down from Kansas City for the event)!

I've been working on Bible study, reading Blue Like Jazz, and cleaning my room today. And trying to spend time with God. It was good this afternoon to just sit. Quietly. And then clean my room. In silence. I resented the noise of the air conditioner slightly. So I turned the thermostat up.

Now I'm off to bed. Quietly. After I brush my teeth.

Prayer notes:
* Cas and Jes are heading to India on Saturday!
* I'm leading an evangelism/witnessing outreach on Saturday!
* I've got another busy week at work - pray I get stuff caught up and my NEWSLETTER WRITTEN!