Rainy Days, Mondays...and the big 4-0

As I headed through traffic this morning to renew my seriously expired Filipino driver's license, the joy and excitement I felt caught me quite off-guard! After all, I'm turning 40 today, wasn't I supposed to be depressed or something? And yet, I felt so free and full of life! Never mind that I would spend the next several hours going from office to office, tediously accomplishing one step at a time in order to have my license renewed...I was going to be with one of my best friends! After the LTO (land transportation office), we were planning to have lunch and then she was treating me to a massage at a wonderful place near our home.
I got to thinking...I love rainy days and Mondays, why would turning 40 get me down? Christmas day is depressing, Saturdays frustrate me...give me a rainy Monday or December 26th any time! I'm sure someone could name my psychological disfunction, maybe even prescribe medicine for it; however, I feel like I have a new lease on life...like I'm a grown up now, and I'm ready to accomplish something! I have a new energy and my heart is revived. 40's? Bring it on!!!
Anyway, the day held no disappointments for me. Getting my driver's license renewed: 2 hours and $20. Lunch for two at O Mai Khan mongolian buffet: $13. Three hours at the spa (to include whirlpool, sauna, body scrub, massage, manicure, pedicure and showers): $50 (for 2 people!!!) A surprise birthday cake at SHIP and getting to be with some of the people I love most on this blessed day: priceless!

Let us go into the house of the Lord!

I was a little put off this morning as I followed up on my facebook posts, and sensed what seemed to be such a lack of reverence for the Lord's house. People were more concerned about "rocking the river", outings with friends and family, school work, and catching up on sleep (which I'm sure was lost doing something to benefit themselves and not in service to their Creator) than they were about gathering to worship with other believers.

I'm not a theologian, and not even very smart, so I won't argue the keeping of the Sabbath (when it is, what it is, how Old Testament law translates into New Testament freedom, etc...). But, I know that setting aside time to gather with other believers for corporate worship, exhortation and spiritual guidance is impertent to every believer! I know this not only from God's word, but from personal experience. I'm sure most of you have heard the example of how a burning log removed from a fire will eventually die down and grow cold on its own. I know from experience the truth of that as it relates to a Christian's life.

Shortly after our marriage, John and I (relishing the new-found freedom we had) began missing a church service now and then for things we felt were important for us to do. Little by little, the things of our local church slipped further and further down our list of priorities, until one day, we rarely even went to church at all. We thought we could still nurture our own relationship with God, but we couldn't. We grew colder and colder until sin began to slip in and we excused that also. Those 7-8 years became very dark times for us. We experienced great hardship and loss, and have the scars to prove it. We need the teaching of the church, the fellowship of other believers, and the corporate worship to keep us burning strong. It gives us accountability and encourages faithfulness. It's important!!!

Hebrews 10:23-25 says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

For the sake of your own personal relationship with Jesus Christ, for the sake of those watching and learning from you, for the faithfulness of God to us every moment of every day...reconsider your priorities, is HE worth it?