Sneezing My Head Off, Anticipation, & The City That Didn't Keep Watch

I spent the past week with a bad cold. A lot of sneezing and trying to cough up that nasty mucus stuff. Two Mondays ago I couldn’t go to my piano lesson because my teacher was sick, and yesterday I couldn’t go to my lesson because I was sick. I`m doing much better today though, so that’s good.

What am I anticipating? If you are homeschooled and live in Southern Manitoba, you ought to know the answer to that question - the annual Manitoba Association of Christian Home Schools Conference!!! Last year was the first time I went and I enjoyed every moment of it. My one regret is that because I was an ambassador last year I didn’t get to go to Teen Track much as I was often busy with the work I was assigned to do. This year it will be different. I am only going to be working for a few hours, so I will get to go to all or almost all of Teen Track. It’s only ten days away!

I didn’t think you would like a picture of me sneezing very much, and I tried to take pictures of me jumping up and down in anticipation, but none of them met with my approval, so I am putting a random picture or two of my younger brother and I here. He wants me to be sure to put lots of pictures on here that have him in them. When he heard I have a blog, he assured me that he was always available to take pictures for me and be in pictures😆

Weirdos^ ;)

So now I am talking about The City That Didn’t Keep Watch. The city I am talking about is Sardis. This is the city in which one of the seven churches of Revelation lay. In the letter Jesus writes to this church, he calls them dead. What does it mean to be spiritually dead? Well, a lot of things, I assume. But I think one main trait of a dead Christian is being unalert. When a Christian is unalert, they cannot hear God calling them to service, and they cannot see if they are in danger spiritually. If God wants them to be a nurse in Canada, or a missionary in Africa, they can’t hear him calling them. And if something they are being taught, if some doctrine they are hearing, or some temptation they come across, is leading them astray, they are not aware and alert to know it. They are not keeping watch.

If you do a little research on the history of Sardis, you will learn of a very interesting story that correlates well to this concept. Sardis was a city which had a mountain on one side of it. An enemy that wanted to attack could not attack from that side. At least, that is what the people of Sardis thought. They were so confident of this that they did not set a guard to watch that side of the city. But alas, one night, some soldiers managed to scale the cliff and enter the city. Of course, they found it unguarded, and so, the city fell. You would think that the people of Sardis would be more careful after that. But they were not. Years later the city was taken once again in the very same way as before.

As Christians, we must not overestimate our spiritual strength. We must always be on guard against temptation and evil teachings, and we should always be praying for the Lord to “deliver us from the evil one.” We must also be sure to listen for God’s calling so as to be sure we are doing what He wants us to do.

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Matthew 26:41

Don’t be a Sardan (I don`t know if that’s the right word). And have a lovely evening!