I Can't Sleep

It's midnight and I have to be up in 6 hours. At the rate I'm going, I won't be getting much sleep tonight. I've gotten in bed twice now, only to get up and find something else to do. The first time, around 11:00 pm, I discovered that my toilet was clogged...GROSS! I tried to see if my friend, Cammie, might be awake so I could borrow her plunger, but she never responded to my text message. What choice did I have but to get in the car and drive up the road to the WalMart, to buy my very own plunger?!

The clog (GROSS) was easily dealt with (Shea, do you still have the auger?) so I decided it was time for bed, again. I began to pray and thoughts of Bob's sermon from this Sunday came flooding in. Bob preached on Daniel 3:1-30 and "American Idols." He included with our sermon outline, an excerpt from one of Tim Keller's books. Its purpose was/is to help you identify the idols in your own life. The directions were to circle any that we think apply to our lives. I'm glad I decided to forgo the circling; the page would have been one big mess of pen markings. Rarely (and sadly) do I ever really think about sermons (please don't tell Bob) but the Lord keeps bringing this one to mind and He keeps giving me real life examples to think and pray through.

As I was confessing my most prevalent idol (which today happens to be the idol of finding my worth and happiness in feeling important and needed), I was faced with the fact that I am one big idol factory. I began thinking about situations where I place things and people in positions of importance above God. As it turns out, this seems to be the norm in my life. Normally, this line of thinking would cause me to feel defeated and hopeless, but this time, my mind was lead in another direction. A familiar phrase of "cheer up" came to mind. "Cheer up, Julie, you are much worse than you will ever know, but Jesus stands before God on your behalf and because of His blood, it's as if you have done nothing wrong, and as if you have done everything right."

Tonight I did a little waltzing while trying to go to sleep. I don't feel defeated and hopeless. In fact, I actually feel that there is hope for me. I know I can't change my heart and stop manufacturing idols; only the Lord can do that. I pray that He will. 1,2,3...1,2,3.

If you want to hear Bob's sermon, you can follow the link below. Enjoy! And if you become overwhelmed at all the idols, run to the cross and dance!

American Idols - Season I

I'm going to try going to sleep again.