HOT, HOT, HOT!

My blog title is actually a line from the movie, "POLAR EXPRESS," taken from the scene in which amazing waiters burst into the club cab-room of the Polar Express while en route to the North Pole - dancing, serving "hot" chocolate, and singing, “HOT, HOT, HOT!” However, contrary to my, heretofore, quite pleasant thoughts surrounding these 3 words strategically packed together - today the same ushered from my lips with another thought in mind. "It's just HOT" - said I. In fact, "it's just HOT, HOT, HOT!" And nowhere was there ANY chocolate in sight, waiters, or, for that matter, dancing.

Yes, it seems that heat plays havoc with our emotions. In Dallas, when it's hot the Rangers losing hurts us all the more, the Cowboys win-loss record from last season looms larger, and the state of Dallas city politics - always suspect - looks even more corrupt (when will we get this fixed, by the way). And the economy? Well… let's not even go there. So that just writing about these things makes me feel, well, HOT!

So what's a person to do? As pastor and follower of Christ, I believe those of us in Him have the answer - one that is squarely anchored in Christ Himself. So today I prayed, "LORD, help me." "Help me not be subject to things, circumstance or the weather - or any of these elements I cannot control. Instead, help me live - today and always - knowing your pleasure, your grace, and your joy." Then, I read this -

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
 planted by streams of water
 that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither. 
In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Ps 1:1-4

And prayed, “Lord, help me to live my life beneath your stream - planted firmly by your never-ceasing water, so that the heat of my days, though withering to the scoffer, will pass - leaving me unscathed and bringing glory to Your Name!

Pastor Sam