Boasting Rights

Josh is still in the hospital here in Dalhart. He had a good day yesterday and got up and around a little. His kidney function improved quickly and although he still seems to be a little dehydrated, his blood count numbers seem to be trying to improve.

He ran a fever last night around 8, but it dropped down by 10 and his temperature was normal this morning.

He had a lot of visitors yesterday, Brother Bob spent the morning playing a board game with him and more friends dropped in though out the afternoon and evening. His spirits are lifted when people come to visit.

Our prayer is that he will stop spiking a fever in the evenings so that we can get released from the hospital on Monday.

This morning as I was reading my devotional about having a renewed mind as Christ Followers. I was reading in 2 Corinthians  and it talked about the "Supernatural Power" we are given when we decided to follow Christ. As I read about the having weapons that were "not of this world" it reminded me of a movie I recently watched.

Ilene and I went out on a date when we were in Houston and saw the movie Captain America (Focus on the Family Review). It is a story about a plain young man who is given super human strength. Initially, the government wants him to go around the country raising money through war bonds to finance the war. But he wants to use his powers to help his fellow soldiers.

I remember as a kid reading the comics and wishing that I had super powers so that I could go and help people. I even envied other people who were stronger or smarter or better athletes, because I wanted to do something special, something that I could boast about.

As I read through 2 Corinthians 10, I realized that it is easy to still envy the "Captain Americas" around us. They drive nicer cars or live in bigger houses. They make more money of have better jobs. They are funny and have perfect looks and can run 10 miles a day before breakfast and, and, and...

We compare ourselves to other people and think that we are less because we are not like them. We want to be better ... better than them. We want to have more than them and then we will .... (fill in the blank ________. Serve God, give to the poor, volunteer at church, you name it).

As I sit around the hospital waiting for my son to get well enough to go home before getting the next round of chemo, it is easy to think about all of the things I can't do, all of the things I don't have, and start to envy those that do have them. But as I read this morning about what God has given me, I can say that I have many things to boast about.

I can boast about what God is doing around us. We have been loved and blessed and encouraged by fellow Christ Followers and people who don't have a relationship with Him. We have been privileged to share (and watch our son share) about Gods faithfulness and blessings.

We have experienced God's undeserved love and blessing during the most challenging time of our lives. I don't have super powers like Captain America but I have seen God do supernatural things in our lives and I can boast about what a great God we serve.

As a Christ Follower, I choose to follow someone who gave up everything in order to have a relationship with me. And in response to that I will boast about what He continues to do in our lives everyday.

A few years ago, Pastor Rodney was doing a radio spot we called "Something to Think About". Here is Something to Think About for today.

When God shows you something amazing that He is doing -- why don't you boast about it to the 8 - 15 people that He has strategically put in your life.