Its been an interesting week. I got sick early in the week, a cold that ran through the family over the weekend, then got me on Monday. It knocked me down most of the week.
While I was home sick, one of my girls got a flat tire. While trying to change it at home, I was cranking up the car jack when the lug wrench popped off and swung up and hit me right below the eye. It hurt like crazy, then bled like crazy. Now, several days later, its really blackened up nice. Plus, where it hit me will most certainly leave a nice scar.
So here I sit, finally over my killer cold, and the pain leaving my face, but my eye seems to be getting darker daily. It might take another week before the color is back to normal, but hey, its been a conversation starter everwhere I go, for sure.
God's good, another 1/3 inch higher and I could have lost my eye.
I've spent a lot of time reading while sick and hurt this week, trying to focus again on knowing and growing in Christ. So I guess its been time well spent. And I have a mark to show for it.

I've been feeling so distracted lately. I can't seem to stay concentrated on one thing for very long. My mind wanders to a dozen different things, constantly. I'll start reading something, only to get a phone call, overhear a conversation, remember something else I needed to do, etc. There are so many things grabbing for our attention these days- hundreds of channels on TV, in every room; music on the radio, on our mp3 players, on our computers, also our TV; cell phones with way more features than we need, constantly going off with calls or messages; more books & magazines than we can possible ever get to; endless surfing that can be done on the Internet, and so on. My attention span feels about as long as a 5 year old!
I recently joined a funny group on Facebook called, "I Have ADD And Wanted To Start A Group So That...Hey! Let's Go Ride Bikes!" for those of us easily distracted. Seemed an appropriate group to join! Does this come with age, have I been ingesting too much caffeine, am I trying to juggle too much in my life, or is something else at work? Maybe all of the above...
I have also felt disconnected spiritually lately, not as in tune with God's Spirit as I like to be. My prayer has become random and scatterbrained, and less frequent. I went for my nightly jog the other night, under the bright moon, and when I finished, I just sat down at the end of the driveway for a while, to try to talk to God some. I asked Him, "Father, what's wrong with me? What does my heart need from you?" Rather quickly, He spoke to my heart, "Focus." Yes, I certainly need that. I asked, "What do I do?" He said, "Stay with Me, linger here." I did linger there, for about another 30 minutes. Nothing majestic happened, the skies didn't open up and angels didn't sing, but I just sat in His presence, enjoyed the beautiful moon-lit night, and felt His presence and pleasure, like sitting in my dad's lap as a kid, just enjoying being outside together.
I need to "FOCUS"- be more intentional about my morning prayer and reading time with Him, and meet Him our here every night I can, to commune with Him. I want Him to again be "My One Thing" like Rich Mullins used to sing about. That way, He'll come back into focus in my life.
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3
Rob

I've come back to a story in the Gospels that grips my heart every time I read it. It is the story of the woman caught in adultery, found in John 8. Jesus is teaching in the Temple courtyard, with a large crowd gathered to hear Him. Suddenly, the Pharisees & other religious leaders burst through the crowd, dragging a woman caught in the act of adultery, and throw her down in front of Jesus & everyone. They boldly assert that Moses' law says they can stone her to death right on the spot, but ask Jesus, "What do you say?"
Now, as I try to imagine this whole scene, the shock and drama of it become clear. Wherever & however they found this woman, they must have burst in on her and her lover, caught them in the act (which was a terrible sin, no doubt), dragged her out and down the street with probably little if anything on, kicking & screaming, all the while spitting on her, kicking & hitting her, taunting & verbally abusing her, all the way to the Temple. By the time they arrived with her, I imagine she was bloodied & dirty, sobbing uncontrollably, rightly fearing for her life. Then she was dumped unceremoniously at Jesus' feet.
With the crowd in shocked silence, the self-righteous Pharisees demanding an answer, Jesus mysteriously stooped & wrote in the dust. No one knows what He wrote, but He suddenly stood up, looked these men in the face, and demanded, "All right, but whichever one of you has had no sin in his own life, you throw the first stone!"
He then stooped to write in the dust again, the sobbing woman in a huddled heap beside Him. Whatever He wrote, coupled with what He had just said, one-by-one the accusers all turned to leave. Standing up, Jesus leaned over her and said, "Lady, where are your accusers?" Through her disheveled hair and sob-swollen eyes, she replied, "They're not here, Lord." And I imagine Jesus throwing a robe around her and helping her up as He said, "I don't accuse you either. But now go and leave your life of sin."
What an amazing scene this is! The cold cruelty of the religious leaders, who just wanted to use the occasion to try to trap Jesus in some way- contrasted with the uncompromising compassion of Jesus for this woman, is astounding to me. Many believe this woman was the same one who sometime later burst in on a dinner Jesus was attending, and anointed His head and feet with perfume, out of love and gratitude. Could this be Mary Magdalene, one of the most passionate and devoted followers of Jesus? I know this- Jesus once said, "He who has been forgiven much loves much, and he who has been forgiven little loves little."
May I always love much, realizing I have been loved and forgiven much.
May I always see people through the eyes of Jesus- not excusing their sin, but loving them with His love, which alone has the power to forgive and restore.
Rob