The Cahill's

Well yesterday was a very full day, lot’s to think about. I went to
work with my brother on his FedEx route and we had a great time
catching up on our lives and discussing life.

One thing we were discussing was life choices and what was behind our
actions. I was also reading a book and came across a really good
explanation of why we have boundaries on our behavior.

  The starting point for our
guidelines has to be a heart desire to honor God…rules for the sake
of rules that are based on human traditions have no value in
restraining indulgence….that only comes by God’s grace. However, an
important part in receiving and applying that grace is establishing
behavior that flees from temptation and puts sin to death. This
involves establishing guidelines that help us. These rules…help us
put our convictions into action.

  The boundaries that we set for ourselves, yes the ones I have
set for myself, are based on what would enhance Christ’s reputation.
Think of anyone going into the public area and coming under scrutiny of
the press; they better have a good track record or any “little slip”
will be blasted to the whole nation and their credibility ruined. A
stupid choice, or a little activity that “wouldn’t hurt anything” now
becomes a source of regret and embarrassment, possibly even ruining a
chance to be effective.

  There was an incident a few years ago (forgive me for not
remembering details) but Bush was trying to appoint a good conservative
lady to fill a key government position. The opposition however found
that she had harbored and helped an illegal alien, albeit out of
kindness, and under the pressure of the accusations she had to turn her
back on the position offered her. She had made a slight “bend in the
law” and with a good motive too, but that compromise ended in defeat by
hurting her character and rendering her useless to serve her country in
a way that would have had incredible impact.

  The same can happen to us as Christians. God has led me to draw
the line in some places that others might not; they might think I’m
weird and try to get me to change. But I’m not doing it for my
reputation but for Christ’s who dwells in me. We have to carefully
guard our reputation, lest after you have preached to others, you
yourself are cast away. Keep yourself unspotted by the flesh.

*edit*
        Take a look at Peter’s site for some similar thoughts and ideas.
*end edit*

Today is a very special day! One year ago God gave us a wonderful
little boy that has brought joy and laughter, love and blessings into
our lives.
Conner Andrew Jones (a.k.a. “the Nephew) had his first birthday today!

How he has grown since that first hospital visit a year ago.

                 
Some of his friends came to play.

           
           
        I think they had fun!

                       
There’s no time like the presents!

Connor loves Blue’s Clues and his party was themed on that show, so
Katie dressed up as Blue to entertain the children – much to Connor’s
delight.

Conner was a little unsure of this strange person…

…but soon he decided that Aunt Amy was okay. Another little girl took
a lot longer to warm up to me. I soon had her confidence and we had a
good time playing together however at the end of the party when I
thought everyone had left, I washed off my make up and came out only to
have her take one look and back away in wide eyed shock – it’s like
finding out that daddy is Santa Clause or Ronald McDonald has straight
hair!

I thank God for this wonderful little guy and the promise that his life
holds. His parents are committed to bringing him up in the way he
should go. They are a responsible, tightly knit family and this party
was thrown as evidence of the love and support that surrounds this guy.
As we anticipate the coming year, we cover the way in prayer that
Connor Andrew would follow in the footsteps of Jesus and grow in the
fear and admonition of the Lord.

This morning I went out to jog at the usual time: 6:00 am. I wear
contacts during the day but this early in the morning I just wear my
glasses. It was raining just a little when I started out, but not
enough to dissuade me. It did however cause me to see something in a
whole different way. When a car came towards me, the headlights were
magnified by all the raindrops on my glasses and nearly blinded me! The
two street lights out here and a few of the house lights were also
distracting and not useful, I was better off running in the dark. The
only time a light was helpful was when a car came up behind me.

This reminded me of the verse in Isaiah: And thine ears shall here a
word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. Only in this
case it was a light from behind that showed me where to run. I thought
even further that we don’t run to the light of Jesus, he is right
there, telling us where to go; he is a lamp unto our feet and a light
unto our path. When walking toward the light you can’t see the path, I
could have swerved off of my course and fallen by the wayside or
gotten in the path of the oncoming car!

As I came to the halfway point something else came to mind; it seems
useless to run out to a point and then right back over all the ground
you just traveled, a circle would be so much better, I would feel more
accomplished. Sometimes it seems in our Christian life that we have to
go back over the same stuff we’ve already covered and we feel useless.
But why do I run? It’s for the benefits my body receives, not to
particularly go somewhere. God gives us a journey and cares not so much
where we go, but what work is being done in our life as the result.

Now, I run a long time so my mind has time to come up with lot’s of
stuff, so having started I kept looking for parallels.  The rain
was harder by now and  my wind pants  were sticking to my legs
and the rain was soaking through my sweatshirt. Boy, I couldn’t wait to
get back inside where it was warm and dry – aha! The life journey is
not always enjoyable, but it makes the destination much more
desirable. It also occurred to me that I didn’t run all day, just for a
little while out of each day and then I could rest and recuperate all
day long to be ready to go out again. We don’t always have to be
running and going through a really tough time, God gives us time to
recover and get ready to go again.

Finally, as I near the end of my run, I notice that the sky is getting
lighter. It’s almost as if I start out in total blind faith, hardly
able to see the next step in front of me. But the longer I run, the
more I am able to see because the light of God’s presence is there all
around me revealing more and more. The path doesn’t get easier –
there’s still hills and potholes – but I am more confident because of
what has been revealed to me through the light of His presence.