Thoughts about Temperature and God

Now that it's starting to get a little chilly outside, I've noticed something. In my car, I have a digital display that tells me the temperature both outside and inside the car. The other day I noticed it was a chilly 43 degree morning. As I started my car, the air conditioner was already pre-set on 68 degrees from the day before, when the outside temperature was in the 70s. What struck me was this - the day before 68 degrees felt cool, but on that particular morning it felt warm. What gives?

It's not that suddenly overnight 68 degrees changed it's mind and decided "Hey, tomorrow I'm gonna be a warm 68." No, 68 degrees is a constant. 68 degrees is 68 degrees all year round. So what changed? What changed is the environment by which I experienced 68.

God is like 68 degrees - He is constant. Our perception of Him, however, can change much like the temperature. Sometimes it seems as if my relationship with Him is hotter than the surface of the sun itself. Other times, He has seemed as cold and distant as the planet Pluto. What changed? Not God.

Have your times with God become stale? Change the environment. Have your prayers become routine? Change the environment. Has your "family time" become uninspiring and lost its originality? Change the environment. When the temperature dipped into the 40s, I experienced 68 degrees in a whole new and fresh way. Why? Because the environment changed. The same can happen with your relationship with God. Try it!

Creature of Habit

I went and got my driver's license renewed this morning before work. Now I'll be honest, I know a lot of people pay extra special attention to their driver's license picture, their hair, make-up (girls), and such but I do not. Not an especially important matter to me, just a piece of plastic I need in my wallet so that I may enjoy the privilege of operating a motor vehicle in the State of Oklahoma. I knew I was going to be taking a picture, however, so I randomly chose a shirt out of my closet that I knew was clean (meaning one that didn't have any food stains on it) and headed out the door. Today that shirt happened to be a yellow polo shirt with blue horizontal stripes.

So while I'm waiting for the Tag Agent lady to type in all the necessary information into the computer, I whipped out my expiring driver's license and looked at the picture. I couldn't believe it! In the picture I had taken four years earlier I was wearing.....wait for it..... a yellow polo shirt with blue horizontal stripes! It wasn't the same shirt, but it looked very similar.

Moments like this are a reminder to me that I have the capacity to be predictable. Repeatable. Habitual. Stale. Especially in my personal daily walk with Christ. Honestly? Jesus could probably say that I've been wearing the same "shirt" for some time now and I know He'd love for me to make a "wardrobe" change for the better. Starting today.

What's your "go-to" shirt? Where, in your walk with Christ, do you need to freshen up your "wardrobe?"