Putting God in a Box

Is it just me, or doesn anyone else try to help God along and tell him how things should be done?? I was raised an Independent Baptist ( No comments please..tee hee...good or bad) I 'm not ashamed of that..rather proud actually...my church was a great church. However when I married I married into Southern Baptist blood. I've learned that one difference is "standards" ..not so much that one is good and one is bad, just that they are different. Once almost insist you wear pants, one doesn't care if you do. One has traditional hymns only, one has comtemporary worship. Ok. fine. I had a conversation with a friend and we were discussing the issue of pants. I'm not wasting blog space to go into that one...I'm getting ready to go now and put mine on. But I will say that sometimes denominations put God in a box. We are more concerned with the do's and don't ( and don't' misunderstand , we do need a standard to live by) but we miss out on the BIG picture. God can meet with a church that only used hymns...I've been in many services like that. I've also seen how the contemporary worship is not all EVIL as some will argue. Do I have preferences.??? sure I do...but I've met some very Godly folks that didn't fit the "mold" that I was poured into growing up and they still love my Jesus with a passion. Same at Christian schools..I've been in many and each has been done in different ways. What I've learned is that as long as it's not "wrong" God can move and work in many venues and many ways.

I was single till I was 32. Not ashamed of it. Most of my single years were great. However, having spent most of my life in third grade and not having a big social life outside of school my pool of eligible men was growing slim. I had dated several guys, but it wasn't like a steady flowing rivers of people asking me out either.I had prayed for that "right man" thinking he was in my hometown surely. I had almost given up that I would find that right man when one day I was in my house while my dad graciously mowed my yard for me. I had web TV ( no computer) and was bored out of my mind. So, I turned on the WEB TV and began to send and e-mail to a friend. I noticed an ad for Christian Singles scroll across the bottom and out of pure boredom I entered my info to see whose profiles came up. I would NEVER have put my information out on one of those sites christian or not ( and if you did it 's ok..I just wasn't that brave). One profile caught my eye of a guy in VA, a few years younger but not many, a teacher too, A christian ( I thought , yeah right, they all say that) and a volleyball coach like myself. My dad came in for some water and I jokingly said "Wanna see the man I think I'll marry".??? We laughed and that was it..until I e-mail said person. To my surprise he e-mailed me back . I never gave it much thought...he was a state a way, an AXE murderer for all I knew. But when I wrecked my car in Indiana and the insurance company refused to total it, I had to fly back to Ohio to get the car. I was told that I could be routed through VA and meet this person on my way home. I wasn't too sure about that. I talked to my dad and he said to be smart, meet in a public place and just have dinner. Long story short it's been 9 years of marriage, two sweet boys, and I'm so blessed. Is that the way we typically think of finding our mates? I don't tell that story to many teens..I'm not promoting it...but what if I had put God in a box and said " Oh, that could never be? " I'd have missed out on much...I never heard of Norton ,VA, but God had. I spent 7 years there ministering in places I didn't know how I got there but God knew how and why. I didn't know where Johnson City was or Tri Cities Baptist, but God did. He sees a bigger picture. As my grandmother used to say "There is more than one way to skin a cat" ( ewww) but she's right. Don't put God in a box...he works in mysterious ways!