A Barrel of Monkeys and Barbeque

Alrighty...I will openly admit it...I ate barbeque yesterday. It was good, old fashioned, Lexington style barbeque. And it was yummy. I had the fries too...but I firmly believe my Diet Dr. Pepper balanced the whole meal out. Yeah. Right. So today, as I was doing the lesson for Made to Crave, it actually asked me to think about the last time I gave in...and what my thought process was...what the lie was that I believed to allow myself to eat something I was determined NOT to eat. Well....if you've ever been in uptown Lexington, North Carolina and smelled the pit cooked barbeque as you drive down Main Street...enough said. That lie took me down! Seriously...I can tell myself all day long that, I do live in the barbeque capital of North Carolina and I can get barbeque any time I want it (I know, I know, my Texas friends are limbering up their fingers to fuss at me via Facebook to tell me what BBQ REALLY is, lol)...but the reality is, and this sounds dumb, I'm scared of a salad at a BBQ place. Really. I mean, their specialty is barbeque. Nothing there is healthy...not even the salad. So why not eat something I like? In all sincerity...it was a flub up and I will be better next time. In all of my postings about how seriously I am taking my new lifestyle and Made to Crave, I thought I should be brutally honest about my mistakes. So I learned 2 things:

• NOT a good idea to go to the Barbeque Center when trying to achieve a weight loss goal/healthy lifestyle


• I believed the lie it was okay to have this, there was nothing better for me there.

So that was my food post for today...on to my ongoing heated debate with a friend!

As most everyone who does NOT live under a rock knows (my deepest and sincerest apologies if you have just crawled out from your rock), today is the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday. I will be totally honest, until I went to work for a church that observes Lent, my little Baptist self didn't really know what Lent was. My pastor always jokingly says, "I give up cigarettes and beer for Lent"...meaning, we try to live a Godly life throughout the year, not just the next forty days. Well, as it turns out, others see Lent in a different light.

My friend is formerly Catholic. She received Christ as her Savior some years ago and has since entered the ministry (not that Catholics can't be saved! Just saying, she swapped her theology a little!). In deciding what to teach this week about Lent, we got into a lively theological debate this yesterday...in my pastors words (isn't he quite the inspiration today?? ha!) "it was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!" As sisters in Christ, both waist deep in the ministry, we both had our own ideas...without going into great detail, it gives me great pleasure to say I won. Just kidding! I enjoyed her perspective on it. We both listened to each other with great respect. She took what I said to heart (which is a trait I love about this Jesus sister! I need to borrow some of that open mindedness from her!) and I learned a lot from her as well. I have always dismissed Lent as an observance with pagan beginnings (look it up, promise I'm not lying!), but I see it a bit differently now. My heart and my eyes are opened to a new look at Lent. I still don't agree with some of the liturgical aspects, but there's nothing wrong with a closer walk with God and a time of reflection (I STILL say we can do that year round, but I get the idea ;) I have great respect for anyone observing Lent :)

I have been doing Made to Crave for several weeks now...and as I've mentioned before, God has brought to light several areas of my life that needed to be cleansed, purged and turned over to Him. I've done that and seek Him daily to help me with it. I don't have a lot to give up right now (barbeque perhaps??) I see it as a time to grow close to God...to go a step further than I do the rest of the year, and really bask in His wisdom, His glory and to be quiet in His presence. All year long I praise, thank, repent and ask. I think I'm going to take this time to see just how close to Him I can draw. I want to see what He has to say to my heart. I want to see it all through His eyes and I want to feel the heartbeat of His presence, His love and His mercy. My goal here is to establish a new way to worship on my own...and to develop this in the next 40 days...and to continue it from thereafter.

I know my viewpoint may not be a popular one, but it's mine. I'm interested to see what my new outlook will bring to my walk with my Lord!

What is your Lenten season going to look like?

Until next time...

~Leslie