Mark 8

The retreat in Iowa was awesome, and I'm so glad that the Lord blessed the ladies present. As I was reading Mark 8 this morning, v. 18 got my attention, Jesus is asking his disciples, "Can't you see? Can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at all?"

I thought it funny that it seems like a pastor's cry to his flock. After pastoring for 22 years, often this is what Jeff and I asked each other. Didn't they pay attention to what we taught? Sometimes to a level of high frustration. One time I even decided I wouldn't speak at youth camps anymore. They would say they loved what I had to share, but no transformation at all.

Yet, as I was remembering this, Jesus seemed to be asking me, "Don't you understand even yet?"(v. 23). How often am I guilty of not remembering what He teaches me over and over again? How many times do you need to hear something till you obey? I'm asking myself this question today.

As I get ready to fly to Iowa to speak at a Women's Retreat, I've been studying Jer 18 and I got stuck with the question: "Can I do the same to you, Laura, as the potter did to the clay?"
Will you let me start again in your life before your clay hardens? Will you resist?

Some of my recent disappointments came to my mind, and I just had to kneel by the printer and reaffirm to the Lord that, indeed, He can.

Rainy Day and Monday: perfect combination for me.
Favorite thoughts from Matthew 22

• the guests He has invited ignored ... and went about their business...
• Jesus knew their evil motives...
• give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God.
• Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures.
• He is the God of the living, not of the dead.
• A second commandment is equally immportant