Ridiculously Evil vs. Deceptively Good

Yesterday morning I had the privilege of attending Cross Point Church. The pastor of this church is Pete Wilson, who used to be the pastor of Morgantown Community Church. Pete, Brandi, and their boys have always had a special place in my heart because I look up to them as individuals and as a family so much! So, getting to see Pete and Brandi was a true blessing...not to mention getting to attend church with my future roommate :)
Anyway, the people that I got to spend yesterday with weren't the most important things of the day. The most important thing was the message that I got to hear. Pete talked about how we as human beings have the tendency to make "good things" turn into "ultimate things". He said that there is a possibility of this happening in almost every area of our life: our jobs, our relationships, our families, school, sports, success, etc. He talked about how you can ruin a perfectly good thing if you try to turn it into your ultimate thing, which only God should be. This is something that I have to keep myself in check with ALL OF THE TIME. I have to remember that nothing on this Earth will satisfy my needs..nothing. Only God can fully satisfy me, and without Him, I am nothing.
The next point Pete made is what felt like a punch in the stomach. He talked about the fact that as Christians, the majority of us don't struggle with the things that are "ridiculously evil" such as murdering someone or stealing someones car. But instead we struggle with chasing after things that are "deceptively good". This statement pretty much sums up a lot of my struggles with my relationship with my Father. Fortunately, God has granted me the ability to not have desires to participate in the obvious things that are displeasing to Him. But, the things I struggle with the most, are chasing after things and situations that are theoretically good. These things are not good, though, if I put them in the place of where God needs to be in my life. These things for me include friends, family, fellowship, and even religious activity. All of those are seemingly good things and even things God calls me to have and participate in, right? Yes, they are, unless they are separating me from God...which happens too much.
Subconsciously I already knew that this described me, but hearing it Sunday made it that much more real. Chasing what is deceptively good is not enough. I have to chase what IS good, all the time.

Baby-Sitting

Last night I had the privilege of baby-sitting Peyton. She is Coach Sanford's, one of the WKU Football coaches, baby girl. Let me just tell you, she is ADORABLE and was such a good girl!
Coach Sanford is the coach that I talked about in my last blog..the one who asked me about my water bracelet. Him, his wife, and their 2 month old baby girl just recently moved to Bowling Green, which in turn, meant they knew hardly no one. So whenever they found out they had a dinner to go to last night for a football function, they had to find a sitter. Keep in mind, Peyton is only 2 months old and this is the 1st sitter they have had other than family members. Can you imagine how nervous they were having to ask a nearly complete stranger to keep their baby girl!? This caused me to be a tad bit nervous whenever Coach Sanford asked me to keep her because I wanted to make sure they felt as comfortable as possible with me, even though I knew they had to have a tinge of apprehension about the whole situation.
I rode over to their house with Coach to meet his wife, AnnMarie, and Peyton for the 1st time (yes, his wife had NEVER met me before. That's trusting in your husband's judgement, people.) When I got to their home, they made me feel so comfortable and they were not stressed out in the least bit! They ordered me pizza and had everything prepared for me, I had to do nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing...Peyton slept almost the entire time!! I woke her up 30 minutes before her mommy and daddy came home just in time to give her a bottle. She was the best baby ever!
I never would have imagined that after the short conversation, started by my bracelet, I would get to baby-sit their daughter and already feel like a small piece of their family. I truly believe that God constructed that conversation, just so that I could get to know their wonderful, beautiful family. God is so awesome like that, isn't he? I prayed for more Christian influences in our football office and... plop! Coach Sanford fell right in my lap. Not only did God answer that prayer, he went above and beyond (just like always). He provided me with an awesome new family in Bowling Green that hopefully I will get to know better and better! I am so thankful for answered prayer!