Part II

Just in case you didn't know, I am a 'bright and flashy girl'! Why do I consider myself this type of personality? Well I could be totally focused on one issue or project and quickly get distracted by something else and that will be it...I'm off and running on another project. It has, believe it or not, gotten much better over the years of my life and I am able to contain most of the bright and flashy moments and continue with an on-going project. If you don't believe you are one of these people, well I hate to break it to you...you probably are you just don't know it. To be honest, I'm not totally 100% sure when the bright and flashy thing happened and I tried to remember what exactly it was and when it happened to no avail. And, after along processing of trying to figure out what in the world happened....I realized that I was completely and totally distracted from a track that I had begun just a short couple of hours before the distraction occurred. Why did I have to back track and figure this out? Because it was the beginning of a series of distractions that played into Part II and was the occurrence that made me realize that it was the ultimate distraction.

For a few of you, you are aware of the main distraction, the one thing that occupied my life and mind immediately and without a moments thought may have thrown my family into financial distress...I am choosing not to share that distraction so for this story we will call it "The Main Distraction". (Come on you have to admit that's pretty ingenious!) 

Over a week ago The Main Distraction pulled me away from my track of praise; it took hold of my whole being, the being of my husband and daughters, of my close friends, and a family that we have been part of for many, many years. Even today, it is controlling many of my thoughts, even with prayer to have it removed, I have not been so lucky to have it replaced. This distraction put into play a series of events that bombarded our life for over a week. The distractions just kept piling up in monumental force trying to divert and distort a path that was established on Sunday morning 2 weeks ago. But, on Saturday afternoon, I started to question where the distraction began and what had happened. You would automatically assume that it would come like a flood with a memory of The Main Distraction, and that was the first and foremost thought, but it was not the place this distraction started. How did I know that? Well I don't know, I can't even begin to tell you why I knew The Main Distraction was not the origination of the course of Part II...When did I realize that? When I was standing in the shower (yes of all places, the shower) and I remembered something; something so small and vague, I almost didn't give it credit. In order for you to understand how this remembrance, to me, is the beginning of the distraction, I need to give you a little history of me.  I am a fantasy book reader, always really have been, they have been my escape from reality; the place that I ran to to get away from the world and the career I had chosen. One of my favorite writers, Laurel K. Hamilton, is a very good fantasy writer; one with vampires and werewolves, with a mix of a human private investigator, and it was amazing the connection and story-line of the books. I had every one of her books! I mean I loved to read this woman's books.  I even read them well after becoming a believer. Sometime after starting my life in Christ, I was cleaning our room out (a very typical chore) and I was compelled to get rid of all of these books. And let me tell you it was a fight for me, remember I loved these books! So, I packed them up and carried them around in my car for about 2 weeks, intending to take them to Goodwill.  That didn't happen, one morning when Lee and I were making our usual run to the dump, I was compelled (for lack of a better description) to throw the books away. It was instantaneous and a short struggle for my will to do what my heart wanted to do- nonetheless, I threw the book series away. (Don't misunderstand, I do not believe that when you become a believer you need to throw everything away that you have from your former life, I believe that when God moves you to remove those things from your life, you will-but not until that time.)WooHoo! What a freedom....well at least I thought so.  Sometime on Sunday afternoon, 2 weeks ago, I was doing the clean out again, and I found a book, just one. I can't tell you where I found it because in all honesty I don't remember, I just very clearly remember finding it. What did I do with it? Well, I don't remember if I threw it away or not...my first instinct is to say that I threw it away, but I do not remember. What does this have to do with The Main Distraction? It was the main distraction...in all ways you can think of, this moment was the beginning of the series of distractions that I and my family (far and near, friends and relatives) encountered over the past couple of weeks. I know you're saying "come on, you mean to tell me that finding some book in your room that you forgot about is the cause of all the crap you're trying to describe!" Yea I guess I am. 

Gal 5:7 "You were running the good race. Who cut in on you...." There are things many things in this life that cause me to get distracted (you too if you really think about it). Those things can be anything that I give credit too, anything that I make a priority over Christ, over the path that I am suppose to take. Do I believe that a book is what caused a series of events that started almost 2 weeks ago, not directly but finding that book distracted my attention, my focus, even if at first I didn't realize it. I have no explanation as to why I was probing on Saturday afternoon, what I was looking for, probably an answer to all that had been going on, probably for relief and peace to the distress that I was feeling. What I found was the distraction that began to divert me from a path that I had taken willingly. I was beginning a race that I had re-started, this one thing brought in my life a distraction of my soul. Why? Because I gave credit to a series of books over the seriousness of Christ. I am not saying in anyway that this book was the origination of bad things, I am not suggesting that this book series was the 'bad' that caused The Main Distraction, I am not saying that if I hadn't had this book in my life that none of the things that occurred would have happened. What I am saying is that I gave credit to something, not of Christ, not of life, but of desire and want; I gave a large portion of my life to this particular book series and I seriously lived to get home to read the next page, chapter and book. And for whatever reason, this book was the thing that happened to me, it was the distraction that caused me to doubt and was offering a way out of my serious life to a world that I could escape, it was the thing that cut me off 2 weeks ago. 

I have no idea why I believe this, I just do. You don't have to and you can scoff at the comparison to finding this book to The Main Distraction that is encompassing our life. But I ask you this...what is the distraction in your life that is causing you to be cut off? What is the thing that is hiding itself carefully away from your sight so much that you could easily forget that it existed? There is something, believe me it is there, keeping you from finding it - giving you an escape from facing the distraction that is before you - keeping you from totally going to Christ for hope and escape. Mine was a book series, that opened a door to many things to distract my path, and for whatever reason, unknown to me, it is Part II. I hope that you are not so easily distracted, so easily diverted from the path you are on, I hope that the race you are running is easier than mine or ours. And I have no words of encouragement for you, I have no words to give that are true fruit of the lips, I only have this... Whatever has cut you off from running the good race is a distraction and remember that there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ, nothing...