Kung Fu Blessings

Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down. – Jeremiah 46:15

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 46-47; Hebrews 6

Ummm… so it’s pretty easy to see what happens when you go against God.

You get pushed down.

Verses like this are funny to me.

A Letter to Hezekiah, The FOOL.

At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

   “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

   “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.” – Isaiah 39:1-8

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 39-40; Colossians 4

What up Hezekiah?

Man you’re a dummy, and a selfish dummy at that!

I Just Put My Foot in my Mouth...

Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
   no one who does what is right and never sins.

Do not pay attention to every word people say,
   or you may hear your servant cursing you—
for you know in your heart
   that many times you yourself have cursed others. Ecclesiastes 7:20-22

Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 7-9: 2 Corinthians 13

Damn,

So you know those times where you do something that you say you try not to do without really being conscious of it and it comes back to kick you in the face?

Welcome to my day today.

So I got an email from a friend the other day saying that she is looking for roommates for this new place that she will be moving into pretty soon. When I first read the email it made me think of another friend who is looking for a place. As I ran down the list of amenities I was like oh this looks good. It’s in a cool area, the house looks nice from the pictures and it’s even pet friendly!

Check, Check, Check.

Looks like it might be a good fit.

So I forwarded the email to the friend who is looking for a new place. The email went like this:

“Not sure if you're really trying to have roommates but a Christian homegirl of mine is looking for some. I'll give you the low down on her if you are interested. We went to high school and Jr. High together... cool and sweet though on the judgmental Christian side... I don't know her super well. Let me know if you want to talk more.”

Not my finest hour…

It was alright until we got to the “judgmental Christian side” part. All bad… So here I am in an email judging someone I’ve known for years by saying that she’s judgmental!

That’s some irony for you… (a note to my literary friends… I don’t feel like looking up the definition of irony… if I am wrong feel free to educate me in the comments section below. Either way you get my point. Thanks.)

So the judged friend of mine called me and asked me about it. I’m actually really happy that she did because I know a whole lot of other people who would have just let it fester or just written me off as some kind of self-righteous hypocrite. But by calling me on it she gave me a chance to apologize.

I was so surprised by the call that I started off like “hummina hummina remember that one time when you had said x y and z well actually I don’t remember the exact time but you know what I mean blah blah blah.”

Such a dummy I was. How am I gonna try to blame her for my screw up?

Graciously she let me make a fool of myself until I just stopped and said you know what… I’m sorry. I judged you in saying that you were judgmental and that was wrong.

She thanked me for my apology and allowed me to clarify what I meant. We talked a bit more about it before ending the call decently well considering the circumstances.

I did learn a few things today. First of all, I’ve got more in common with the super judgmental folk than I think. This was a serious self check moment. I gotta work on that. Second, God has a funny way of teaching me things. I mean seriously… judging someone by calling them judgmental and getting confronted about it? That’s pretty ridiculous. Third… if you’re gonna be judgmental then don’t do it over email!!! (ok this isn’t really a good spiritual lesson but seriously… how moronic was I?)

As always… I’ve got a ways to go. For every one step back I gotta take two steps forward.

Smh… (shaking my head)

To my judged friend: If you are reading this then I hope that you will accept my apology and forgive me. Hopefully we can get past this and be cool in the future. I’m sorry!

I Pity the Fool

1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
   honor is not fitting for a fool. 

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
   and a rod for the backs of fools!
6 Sending a message by the hands of a fool
   is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison.
7 Like the useless legs of one who is lame
   is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
9 Like a thorn bush in a drunkard’s hand
   is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10 Like an archer who wounds at random
   is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
   so fools repeat their folly.
12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?
   There is more hope for a fool than for them. – Various verses on fools From Proverbs 26

Today’s Reading: Proverbs 25-26; 2 Corinthians 9

So I was reading Proverbs 26 and I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean seriously… Solomon or whoever wrote this joint goes HARD on fools.

But you know what, it’s necessary. I know this because I have been the fool that he is describing. Fools are people who don’t heed advice. They think that they know everything so they tend to repeat the same mistakes.

Oh come on now, don’t act like I’m the only fool in this conversation. Y’all know that you have been foolish at times. Ok fine, since you may not want to admit it for your own life I’ll give you an example of a time when I was comically foolish. In typical male fashion it involved not following directions.

What made me think about this is that I finally got a desk for my room. Hooray for me! It’s only two years too late. Actually it’s quite amazing that I’ve made it through 300 of these things by writing on my laptop from random tables, sitting on the floor, or laying in my bed. But I digress.

So, today as I was putting together my table I made extra sure to follow the instructions. Sure all I had to do was screw the legs onto the table top but shoot… you never know. Sometimes the easiest tasks make you look the stupidest when you screw them up.

This happened to me a few years ago. I bought a bookshelf from IKEA to provide a humble abode for the only true treasures that I have.

My books… oh how I do love thee…

So the bookshelf was just as easy to put together as any other IKEA product. The process was just a bit longer as it had several parts that needed to be hammered and screwed together. No biggie. I’ve been putting stuff together for as long as I could remember. Even as a kid my Dad always had me help with such projects.

Simple.

Well I got to the end where I had to attach the top board. At this point I was on auto pilot. I knew where it was supposed to go, how it fit and it was a matter of just nailing in the screws. But I made a mistake… I nailed it in backwards!!!

Sure it still works but the mistake is obvious. I am not lost on the irony that the bookshelf that houses evidence of my intellectual prowess is foolishly flawed in its construction.

See difference in smooth side and rough top finish for my foolishness

We have many things that serve as instruction manuals for our lives. They take the form of loved ones who give sound advice, mentors who have been on the path we want to take, and other folks who have made mistakes that we want to avoid.

We become fools though when we start feeling ourselves a bit too much. We think we know it all and therefore stop seeking the guidance that helped us get to where we are. This is a common reason for why we experience setbacks on the paths of our purpose.

So try to remember not to get too full of yourself. Listen to those folks who have come before you. Do your due diligence. Read and research before you act. Sure you may know some things, but you definitely don’t know it all.

At least I know that I don’t.

Success!