The 10 Second Rule



Click on the book to read the author's summary of the
10 second rule

You know how sometimes, particularly during a missions emphasis month, preachers will harp on being a missionary in your own community?  They rant about the lady in front of you in the grocery line, or the guy in the cubical next to yours at work, or the people you see every day going to and from work, your secretary, your boss, your neighbors.  It's terribly convicting! But here's the deal; I don't work outside the home.  My sphere of influence seems very small! And really, how should I go about approaching the lady in front of me in the check out line with the Romans Road, when I've got 4 hooligans I'm trying to keep in sight and in check?
In the past I've reasoned with myself that my children are my mission field right now. And that is very true!! They are perhaps the most important mission field I will ever encounter! The way I raise them could eventually influence hundreds or thousands of people for Christ, depending on how sold out they are for God. Talk about responsibility! But what if they never see me in action for Jesus? I'll say that again. What if they never see me in action for Jesus??? What kind of example am I setting for them to follow later in life, or even right now?
Last night and this morning I read a small book called The 10 Second Rule by Clare DeGraaf. The premise goes like this "just do the next thing you're reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do." That's it.  I got it in the mail from the Sonlight Curriculum office as a Christmas gift this past December and put it on the shelf.  I wanted to read it, but I was afraid. I don't like change. Can I be honest?  A lot of times I'm afraid to look at a book like this for fear I'll be called to evangalize a third world country.  Doesn't that sound horrible?  I hate that about myself, but it's true!
So, anyway, yesterday was Sunday. It was also the end of a "real church conference" at the church we've visited the last 2 Sundays.  I don't really understand how it is that they "plant" churches in other areas of the country and around the globe.  It's not by commissioning a member of the main church to go start one.  I guess that's not important.  At any rate, once a year they have this conference and invite members from these "church plants" and have a conference, and this past Sunday was the last day of it for 2012. It was amazing. It was all about evangalism and having the Gospel preached, and walking worthy of the Lord.  It was about the Goodness and the Majesty of our God. In short, it was one of those services that completely lifts your spirits and at the same time causes you to feel like a complete wretch. So when I got home and saw this book in the diaper bag (something told me to pull it off the shelf before the movers grabbed it -- go figure) I knew I needed to read it; so I picked it up and started.
It makes so much sense! It bridges the gap between what seems possible and what I feel a general sense of conviction about during mission services. It's not about enormous descisions, it's about sensing the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit and acting on it, before you can rationalize your way out of it. I don't have to make the decision to go knock on every door in our neighborhood and hand out tracts, or decided that I won't leave a grocery store before I speak to someone about Jesus, no matter what the boys are behaving like that day.  All I have to do is ask God to show me what He wants me to do and then do it.  Now, He could ask me to knock on my neighbors' doors, or he could simply ask me to wish the person beside me a good morning, or hand they guy on the corner a five dollar bill. They key is listening and obeying.  Being Jesus to someone when they need it.
I'll tell you what my first step was. Writing this post and putting the little vinyl clings with "10s on them in prominent reminder spots.  Then next is heading back over to Olive Garden where we had lunch yesterday.  I had a gift card that paid for the boys' lunches but most of my meal I paid for on my card. When the waiter brought the check back, for some reason I calculated my tip based only on the money that came out of my pocket, not the entire bill. I realized what I had done when I got to the car, but rationalized myself out of going back in. The boys are a good excuse for a lot of stuff. The only thing I could think about the whole time I was reading was that waiter and his tip.  He was friendly, and great with the boys and I'm pretty sure he saw us bowing to pray over our food.  Then I gave him an insulting tip. It woke me up at 5:30 this morning. I told God I would go.  I just hope he's working today!

Lift Up Your Hands!

Isaiah 61:3 "To grant those who mourn in Zion giving them a garland instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of mourning.  The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness The planting of the Lord  that He may be glorified."

All of week one in "Breaking Free" was so powerful, but day 5 was huge for me.  I have so many things I want to be freed from, but pride was not one of them. Pride didn't really enter the picture until this week.  I felt like it wasn't that big of an issue for me and I would deal with it later.  Some of these other things seemed so huge and overwhelming to me, but the study kept coming back to pride. You see, I'm not saying I don't have an issue with pride, I'm sure I must.  Everyone is prideful in some way, right?  I've just never been able to understand just how it plays out in my life.  Maybe that's the embodiment of pride, I don't know.  But I asked the Lord to pinpoint it for me since it kept coming up.  And so the floodgates opened. 
This phrase was life altering to me "Like Israel and Judah, much of our captivity is caused by failure to remove pride, idolatry, prayerlessness, and spirit quenching legalism" Honestly all of these things hit home for me, but to think that I am quenching the Holy Spirit with my legalism -- everything hinges on that. Everything! I realized that my pride takes the form of spirit quencing legalism.
Christ's ministry is a ministry of the heart.  Sure, it involves my head, but ultimately it's my heart He's after.  I am much more comfortable with the intellectual than with the emotional.  A lot of knowledge that I have about God never actually reaches my heart.  I don't want to be the center of attention, I don't want to put on a show.  People who know me will say "but you got up there in front of the church and sang for all those years!" Yes, I did.  But it was pretty much forced on me, because I decided to study music in college. I got comfortable with it, but it is not something I chose.  I much prefer a choir setting.
Part of this is personality.  I'm not one of those people who have trouble thinking before I act.  I think until everything becomes foggy.  I tend to be afraid that what I do or say is going to be the wrong thing so I do and say nothing.  I fear what people are going to say.  Now I realize this is all pride.  I never saw it that way before.  I thought "I'm protecting myself"- WRONG! I'm hiding who I am.  "I'm protecting my husband"- WRONG! I'm hurting us both by clamming up and never saying what I really think and feel about a situation. 
Another big revelation was about music.  I have been very distrustful of CCM for several reasons.  I'm an old fashioned girl at heart.  I come from a background of hymns.  I grew up in a Catholic setting singing hymns.  When I got saved I went to a church that sang old fashioned hymns.  I LOVE old fashioned hymns.  They speak to me.  I don't know how they could not speak to someone who listens, but that doesn't make praise music wrong.  It doesn't make Southern Gospel wrong.  It doesn't make Contemporary Christian Music wrong as a whole.  (I do think some take it too far, however) But regardless of the type of music, music speaks to the heart.  And whether it's an old fashioned hymn or southern gospel at church or praise and worship music at home, when it speaks to my heart I have a hard time expressing that.  I hide my tears if I'm moved to tears.  I fight the urge to raise my hand in praise for fear someone might see.  PRIDE.
I think it's going to take some time and work for me to open up completely, but Beth explains that in Exodus 3:7 "I know their sorrows" "The hebrew word for know suggests a deeply intimate relationship or perception." {ding! ding! ding! ding! ding!} Jesus already knows!  He is deeply intimate with my fearful pride and He can overcome!! If I will only let Him.  "He gives a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting so they will be called oaks of righteousness that He may be glorified"! Can anybody say Amen!

About to Break Free

I just started a new Beth Moore Bible Study, "Breaking Free".  To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know the we were beginning a women's study at church.  But God works in mysterious ways, and He had a plan for me. If I had been able to just drop off my youngest in his nursery class, I would have gone into the auditorium as usual, and sat through the service.  Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.  I love to hear our preacher!  But God knew I needed this study, even if I didn't. 

As it turns out, I ended up waiting for the nursery worker to show up for about 15 minutes or so and then got into a conversation with another mom about ear infections (more about that another time), so I was only maybe 2 or 3 minutes early for the service.  I should mention that I don't just randomly show up 45 minutes early for service; the kid's AWANA program is on Wednesday nights and it starts 30 minutes before the service, and I have 2 different places to drop children off before 6:30.  Anyway, as I was about to walk into the Auditorium to find a seat I ran into a friend who was looking for the women's Bible study, and so I decided to join her.  I am so thankful that I did!
I didn't realize that I was in bondage.  I didn't know this study would be relevant for me.  I didn't even know the title of the study until it was well underway.  But as I sat and listened , and as she read lists of testimonies; things women had been set free from, I said to myself repeatedly "that's me".  As she explained the cyclical destructive thought patterns that she terms stongholds, several issues came to mind that cause destructive thought cycles and discouragement and I began to be overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord for allowing me to be a part of this study here and now. I am so excited at the prospect of being freed from these strongholds that have held me captive for so long, and which keep me from complete fellowship with my God.

What About Recycling?

There's a lot of hype out there about saving the planet for the next generation.  "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" has been the mantra for most of my life.  I remember being scared out of my wits in the fourth grade when CFCs became taboo for burning a hole in the Ozone.  On top of that we're killing the polar bears by driving our cars and burning incandecent lightbulbs in our homes.