Why Not Sweet Tea!!

      


             So obviously, I really like a freshly made glass of sweet iced tea. The funny thing is, living on the west coast, no one makes a good glass of tea. Much less a sweet tea. Sure McDonald's started serving it here and we do have a Chick-Fil-A near us now. Neither make a good glass of fresh tea. Yes, sometimes it is still hot from brewing but, it tastes like the bottom of a burned coffee pot. You know when you get coffee from the bottom of the pot and especially if someone left it on too long. It tastes cloudy and burned. Same with Tea.
             You would think that when I go out to a restaurant, I would order tea. NO. I hate it out. It tastes like dirty water at best and like dirty dish water at worst. And if you don't sweeten it with an artificial sweetener, your not going to get it sweet because every southerner knows, you can't dissolve sugar in iced tea. You put the sugar in while the tea is hot.
             Why the rant? I have been meeting a couple of ladies at a Starbuck's for a meeting every Monday night for about 5 weeks now. Do you know they have NOTHING worth drinking there unless you drink Coffee? Seriously. Their iced tea is yucky and then they try to fluff it up with juice in it. Really? And their hot tea is terrible. Really, I have tasted Vegetarian dishes that were better. And I'm talking about the ones with that white congealed stuff that squishes when you bite into it.
               I went to Peet's one time thinking they would do better. Peet's is the conservative of the coffee houses around here. You know they don't play the weird music and their cups are actually called, small, medium and large. They at least sell good hot tea. (Jasmine Downey pearls, super good and healthy too). And you could make good iced tea from there selection. A good English Breakfast would work. But, again the iced tea they make in the store tastes like... thick. Not full bodied mind you. Thick. Like you could chew it. Also, a bit like a dirty pot was used. And the juice thing in the tea... What is the point! Drink a glass of juice or lime-ade for goodness sakes. That isn't TEA!!! You don't have to be a 2 year old to order a glass of lemonade. It is O.K. to order that.
               Then you order water in a restaurant and they serve you tap water. O.K. I'm in a restaurant that I am actually looking down at the menu and not talking to someone in a goofy hat, can't you open a bottle of water! We all know water is the best thing to drink. So why do the waiters always give me a nasty look? I will pay for the bottled water. Why the attitude about water? I went to a brunch with some moms. The waiter  approached us as we were standing and talking and asked if we would like something to drink? (this was a flat price brunch. Tip included.) He eagerly brought the mimosas and coffee. My water? I got snubbed. "If you'd like water, there is some on the table. You can get it yourself."
              I would love to get my favorite drink out and about. I would love to splurge and get a sweet tea at a drive through or a tea shop while I'm out. Instead, I get a hankering for some tea and I have to head home and make it myself. No splurging there. Well, think of the money I'm saving.
               O.K. I'm done with my midnight rant that will matter to no one except myself.

Listening When HE Talks.

          

To Listen Wholeheartedly. 

            Well, here I am again, in the middle of the night. Feeling unsettled. What is it? Why the unsettled feeling in my soul tonight? Actually, I have felt it all day. Our pastor has been talking on God talking to you and how we need to be ready and quiet and listening. It's imperative to have a dedicated prayer life and to read daily. However, he says he has talked to people that have said to him that God told them something. He says he is always amazed that they are still standing. He says that if God talked to him, he doesn't think you could even answer from the overwhelming power, awe, etc. of God himself. I suppose you could site the story of God having to put his hand over the crevice where Moses was so that He could pass by. And that the glory of God shown on Moses face when he spent time on the mount to receive the tablets. Exodus 34:29-30 ²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
In Exodus 3:6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
              I can see how someone might say that to HEAR God would be almost (maybe) horrifying. I am struggling with this. The reason? I have heard God. I know, I have now had several of you roll your eyes and maybe even turn off this page. But, it is true. When my second son was so very sick and in the NICU for so long, I was up for many hours. I lived on very little sleep. I figured out once that I was living on 4 hours, accumulated sleep. I would catch time here and there when I could. One reason was because not all of the medical staff liked me being at my child's bedside at all hours of the day and night. I suppose, I was infringing on their turf. Not all of the nurses were that way though. Many said they would do the same. During this time, I was closer to God than I had ever been. I prayed a steady stream. I understand the passage in the Bible that says to pray without ceasing. I also read my bible a lot. I was seeking his guidance and comfort. 
            Well, one night I thought that I could slip off to bed for a few winks of sleep. My little darling was fed and sleeping. No meds scheduled for a few hours. I had a nurse that I thought was going to be on my side. Well, I had no sooner laid my head down and I heard, very clearly, "Get up! He needs you now!" I even was already on my feet. I didn't realize that there was no one in the room to say the words I heard until I hit the NICU door. Where I found the nurses all around my son's nurse as she was feeding him a bottle. (This was something that was against what I had researched. What he was wrong with my son would be helped much more with breast milk. And he had actually had a problem with the formula in the first week. ) When I walked through the door, she went pale and shook her head ( the other nurses spread out and I heard a lot of murmuring about me always being there, and I always seem to know. ) and asked, "How did you know?"
              I answered, "He told me." At the time it didn't seem strange. I just took it for granted the God had told me and it was normal. Even though I realized later that it really isn't a normal everyday occurrence. 
            Am I crazy? I didn't die. I didn't fall down in fear? Does that make me irreverent? Some would say that the sleep deprivation made me a little crazy. Maybe. But, I remember that moment in that 4 months so much more clearly then anything else. There other moments like that where I felt God's presence but, only that time when I heard him. 
           Well, as I struggle with the before mentioned sermon that was taught in church and think maybe I am crazy, I read this morning in my Bible: Acts 9:10

¹⁰ In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
   “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

                 Ananias didn't die either. He just answered. There are several examples just like this. 

What about Samuel? He was still a child when it happened to him. 

I Samuel 3:10- ¹⁰ The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
   Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”


           Of all of the stories where God speaks or calls someone, Samuel's story is my favorite in that he is an innocent child and he doesn't even know it is God calling him. Also, it says that the Lord came and stood there. Samuel was still able to speak. 
             So with that said I think it safe to say, that God does speak on rare occasions. I am not saying that you sit and have a daily conversation in the way you and I could sit and talk. I think that when He wants to talk, He does. I just pray that if He ever talks to me again, I am listening. I am not from the camp of, "God CAN move mountains, He just chooses NOT to." I don't believe that for one minute. I believe He moves mountains everyday. We just are in a world that never stands still long enough to notice. He says, in Psalm 46:10-

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

           
               I know that my God talks and probably even sings. I know that he is here and everywhere. I know that He loves me and is concerned with the things that concern me. After reading that passage above about Samuel again, I know sometimes, he even stands near us. With that I hope that I can always say, "Speak, for your servant is listening."