Integrity

"Better is a poor man

who walks in his integrity

than he who is perverse

in speech and is a fool."

Proverbs 19:1

                                   A son 

was born in the night. Prince Caspian escapes with his life being hunted by an army. He grabs the shofar his teacher gave him and he blows the horn. I cried from that point on. No, it was not a tear jerking movie. There is just something about a battle cry and God's people rallying that gets to me. I think because it is so rare a thing. I have scarce seen our army gather to fight. Really, I am not sure that I have. Sure, a few soldiers gather here and there and speak of war, but people who really want to do battle are something of an enigma.

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"I had accepted the fact that winter is what is really true." - John Eldredge  Below: River Baptism on Sunday

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"It's time for our friends to wake up!" - Aslan

It's hard to do ministry. It's hard to fight. It's hard to have honor in our day in time. My buzz word in prayer this year is "integrity." It keeps coming up to me. Integrity in battle. Where do you find an example of that? 

If you look introspectively, what area of your heart and mind do you begin to examine and pray over to become a person of integrity?

"By this all men shall know you are my disciples,                                                                                     if you love one another." - John 13:35

Integrity begins with your heart toward other believers. I think that means that we call others to integrity. I think I must be bent on perfecting this technique to my personal detriment and God's glory. Several people are mad or not talking to me at the moment because I have asked them to step up to the higher standard that God has placed in front of them. Will you live it?

A virtuous friendship tells you when they feel you are in the wrong. This friend does not cut eyes at you when you share deep mistakes in your life. They tell you the problems they have with you and if they think you are in error. They do not make faces and then tell other people your problems. Neither should you.

That's integrity to me. If you are in Christ and making slanderous or gossipy remarks about people, ask God why you have this flesh eating bitterness welling up and over into the lives of others. Do you have close friends who build up or tear down others?

I love what Neil McClendon says, " if you aren't under a blessing, then you're under a curse." If you are in Christ and willingly and constantly slander others (including sharing things for the sake of "prayer"), you are not under a blessing.

I want you to be under a blessing. Since judgment is such a rampant thing in the body of Christ, I am asking you to pray for everyone you know to be delivered from it. Everyone I know has it. 

When it is all said and done, humble your heart and walk on with the integrity of knowing that you have build up the house of God and not torn it down for your own glory. 

On a funny note:

Celebrity Watch!

On Saturday night, I was privileged to go out and celebrate the birthday of Marla Rice (infamous worship leader). We spent our evening at Hula Hut. 

As we are sitting and waiting over an hour to get our table...who strolls past us but Kate Hudson!

I stared at her with my mouth open for a minute wondering if I knew her. Then I hear Jen, fabulously hysterical, "That's Kate Hudson!" Oh.

A few minutes later I saw a tiny little man who I thought looked like Lance Armstrong. He smiled at me when he walked in. I thought it could not be him because he was a tiny little guy. It was him. He is a tiny little guy. Who knew? He looks tall on his bike. I didn't run over to take their pic, but I knew someone had to and I found these on someone else's blog. I especially like the one where you can't even tell it's her.

That is my celebrity watch for the week. Included also are pictures of our waiter "Crawdaddy" who reminded me of my brother. I loved him. He sounded just like Matthew McConaughey.

in·teg·ri·ty     [in-teg-ri-tee] 

–noun

1.	adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

2.	the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.

3.	a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.